More Than Friends
by upenn16
Summary: It has been a year since Ari died, and Ziva feels guilty.  Hoping to find comfort and forget about what she did, she heads to Tony's after Gibbs, who knows, sends her home.  When she gets to Tony's Jeanne opens the door, and jealousy erupts.  AU, no beta.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Short first chapter. Basically, Ziva goes to Tony so that she can forget about her brother, but when she shows up she finds Jeanne there. Jealousy erupts and Tony tries to keep his cover going. Definitely Tiva. AU. No beta, sorry.**

**Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own NCIS. If I did this would be an episode. ;)**

"Night," Tony said as he walked out of the office.

"What are you doing tonight, Tony?" Ziva asked as he walked out of the office.

"Nothing, _Zee-vah_." He walked out of the room and she knew that he was lying to her, but she said nothing. She just watched him leave. Ziva was the only person left in the office, or so she thought. Placing her head in her hands she felt the tears press against the back of her eyes. It had been a year since she had killed her brother. Flashbacks zoomed through her head. His lifeless eyes as she stared down at him had haunted her.

_3 hours later_

"Ari," she breathed.

"Ziver, go home. Get some rest."

"Gibbs, I am fine." His only response was to raise an eyebrow as she wiped her eyes.

"Fine . . . thank you, Gibbs," she said as she stood up gathering her stuff.

On the ride home, she found herself actually driving under the speed limit. She was dreading going home. She couldn't be in a room all alone with pictures of Ari surrounding her. She just couldn't do it. Making the first "Legal" U-turn she found she stopped at Block Buster to grab a few movies. She walked through them when he saw Fiddler on the Roof. When she picked it up she saw that it was a musical about a Jewish community. Smiling to herself she grabbed to more movies, The Sound of Music (it was one of her favorites) and the Godfather (Tony's favorite). She checked out, then headed over to the Wal-Mart across the street and grabbed several boxes of candy and a tea. By the time she was back at her car the tea was gone. Climbing in, she through the candy on the other side of the car. She pulled out of the parking lot and sped as fast as possible to Tony's car.

Tony lay on the coach with Jeanne resting her head on his shoulder. They were watching a movie on the television. He was smiling contently, but Ziva's lack of emotion today kept bugging him. Pushing it to the back of his mind he focused more on being happy with the girl in his arms, instead of thinking about his partner who he had kept in the dark. Suddenly, he heard a knock at his door and he felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Jeanne got up to answer the door and he cringed when he heard the door open, knowing that only one person would come here at 10:00 at night: Ziva.

Jeanne opened the door and when she saw another woman's face her happy smile fell.

"Who are you?"

The young Israeli eyed her suspiciously before responding, "Ziva David. Tony's partner."

Jeanne felt a knot form in her stomach. _Partner? What did that mean?_ She thought.

"I'm Jeanne Benoit . . . Tony's girlfriend," she clarified trying to make the exotic beauty at their door squirm. Ziva was surprised, but her face, to Jeanne's disappointment, remained expressionless.

"Is Tony here?"

"Um, yes. Why do you need him?"

Ziva was starting to get more and more annoyed. "I would like to see Tony, so if you'll excuse me." Pushing past Jeanne, she entered the room. The doctor was shocked at this "new" girl's audacity. _She can't be that close to Tony! I don't even know her? _

"Tony," Ziva called, "Sorry, I came so late, but you forgot this at my apartment, yes?" She had brought his jacket that she had been keeping in her car forever. She'd always meant to give it back, but she had never gotten around to it.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks, Ziva . . . can we talk?" He walked into his kitchen where Ziva was doing the dishes as though she had lived there her entire life.

"What are you doing here, Ziva?" He whispered urgently.

"They were fumigating my apartment this morning and I needed somewhere to go for an hour or two more." He knew she was lying, but said nothing. He simply looked at her.

"Ugh, fine! I got bored. Gibbs sent me home earlier, and I have nothing better to do," she admitted.

"Read?" He suggested, playing along event though he still felt like she was lying to him.

"I finished my book yesterday, and all libraries are closed, as well as book stores. Besides," she added, "I brought The Godfather."

Tony gasped, "How did you find that version?"

"I went to Block Buster," she said hesitantly.

"Are you serious? I spent years trying to find that!" He reached for it, but she quickly moved her arm behind her back.

"Zee – _vah_!" He tried again and she made a break to get out of the kitchen, but his arms wrapped around her waist picking her up.

"Tony!" She shrieked laughing in a very non-assassin way. He plucked the movie out of her hands as she tried to squirm out of his grasp. Suddenly, their laughing stopped. Jeanne was standing there watching them. Both Tony and Ziva became aware of the position they were in. Ziva was bent over from when she had been trying to throw Tony, who was bent over on top of her with his arms locked firmly around her waist and arms; the movie in his hand, off. They looked almost like a couple, but at the same time just very close friends. Whereas Jeanne was confused, Tony felt guilty and Ziva felt strangely embarrassed. His weight felt heavy on her back and his arms and body sent electrical currents through her veins. The room immediately felt smaller and the temperature rose several degrees. Tony could feel his arms wrapped securely around his partner, and although, he didn't want to, which greatly scared him, he knew that he must let go. Slowly standing back up, pulling Ziva with him, he unraveled his arms from hers and took a step back and to the left. They both immediately missed the other's warmth and the electrical feel they had gotten. Putting the thought aside, Tony went to make introductions.

"Jeanne, this is my best friend Ziva. Ziva, this is my girlfriend Jeanne."

"Hi," Ziva said simply with a slight wave.

"Hello, Ms. David," she said before turning on her heel and coldly stalking off.

**A/N: First FanFic. Anyways, they are obviously a little OOC, but that's what AU is for. Please review! Should I continue?**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey! Thanks for the awesome reviews! :) Again, please excuse any grammar mistakes: English is not my best subject and there is no beta.**

**Summary: Ziva goes to Tony so that she can forget about her brother, but when she shows up she finds Jeanne there. Jealousy erupts and Tony tries to keep his cover going. **

Ziva looked up at Tony. She was starting to feel bad about coming here. _Tony's girlfriend did not know about me? Then again, I did not know about her, but she must have known Tony would have friends? _ The look on his face told her that he was in trouble.

He was about to walk away to find Jeanne when he heard his partner whisper abruptly, "Tony, does she know about any of us?"

"Listen, Ziva, I need to go fix this, but you are just going to have to follow my lead, OK? There are just some things that I can't explain right now."

"I understand," she said looking him directly in the eye, before taking a step back and allowing him to pass. She watched him walk the way Jeanne had only two minutes ago, and debated with herself whether she should just disappear or not.

"What the heck, Tony?" She was on the verge of tears.

"Jeanne, just please listen to me," he pleaded.

"What was that? I didn't even know about her, and then all of the sudden it's like she lives here! Does she?"

"No, Jeanne, Ziva has never lived here." _Oh, thank God she knocked this time. I would be dead if she just picked the lock like usual. _

She seemed to calm down a bit when he said this, but her face became horror stricken as another horrendous thought entered her mind. "Are you seeing her too?"

"NO! Ziva and I have a strictly friends relationship. We have never had any type of romance between us. We are just close friends. She's like my sister."

"Your sister?" Jeanne said this hesitantly as though she didn't want to hear the answer.

"Yes, my sister. I have to people who are like little sisters to me: Abby, she teaches forensics, and Ziva, the foreign languages teacher. Well, I guess Abby would be more like my baby sister who is way younger than you even though in reality Abby isn't, and Ziva's more like my little sister who is only a year younger than me. I don't know, either way I love you, Jeanne, and only you."

She smiled and gave him a hug. Resting her head against his chest he heard her murmur, "I' m sorry I overreacted. I love you too."

They walked out of the room; Tony's arm was wrapped around her waist. Ziva was halfway out the door when Jeanne called out, "Hey, Ziva, you don't have to go." Ziva cringed, but re-entered the room. "Listen, I'm sorry I was so rude to you earlier. How about you stay, and you can watch the movies with us," Jeanne suggested.

Ziva forced a smile. "Sure, I would like that." In all honestly, spending her time with Tony and his girlfriend was not what she had been planning on for tonight, but it was either have Tony accuse her of being jealous in the morning and spend the night remembering her two dead siblings, or watch a movie with the two of them. She decided that she would suffer the least amount of torture if she just stayed for an hour or two.

"So, Tony tells me that you teach foreign languages," the doctor stated hoping to find out more about the woman standing across from her.

She effortlessly hid her shock and remembering her conversation with Tony earlier went along with everything, "Yes, my specialties are Hebrew and Spanish, but I teach several others too."

"Oh, well that is interesting. I'm a doctor," Jeanne replied as she skimmed over the movie titles. "Can we watch the Sound Of Music? I absolutely love that movie."

Tony's eyes widened quite a bit causing Ziva to through her head back with a laugh. "Ziva, did you get that movie just to annoy me?"

"No, Tony, as I am sure you will eventually recall, it is one of my favorites." Tony huffed, but put the movie in the DVD player nonetheless.

"Oh, c'mon, Tony it's not that bad," Jeanne said. Tony scoffed making Ziva laugh again. Jeanne came around the side of the couch and sat down on the left side, Tony sat in the middle, and Ziva hoped over the back of the coach, and landed comfortably next to Tony.

"Must you use your ninja skills?" He whispered with an annoyed look.

"Yes, Tony. Now be quiet." The movie began to play, and Jeanne curled up into Tony's side while Ziva pulled her legs close to her torso and rested her head on her knees.

About thirty minutes into the movie Ziva beginning to regret renting the Sound of Music. Her mind kept flashing between the movie and her memories of Tali and her singing the songs and forcing Ari to play the guy parts and dance with them. Their laughter echoed in her mind and then she would see the charred remains of her little sister after the suicide bomb killed her and Ari's lifeless eyes as she looked down at him knowing that she had killed him. The images ran through her mind as she tried to shut them off and just focus on the movie. Her walls were deteriorating slowly and she knew that if she didn't get out of here fast they would crumble and only the shattered remains of her soul would show. She didn't want Tony to see that . . . ever. She had already resulted to tears once with Gibbs: she would not do it again. She made it through the next hour looking calm and collected, but feeling distraught and panicked on the inside. _Not much longer left, David._ She just had to make it through the next couple of scenes, and then she could create some excuse to leave. Then her favorite part of the movie came on: the father was going to take his family away from their home because he valued them more than his job. Ziva used to lay awake in bed dreaming about her father doing that. She remembered thinking that one day he would come home and it would be like old times before he became the director of Mossad. After about a year and half she gave up any hope that he would. When Ari went rouge she had hoped that he wouldn't have his own son murdered, but again she was wrong. She gave one final effort to contain her emotion before the internal exhaustion crushed her. Her walls fell to the ground and she silently began to cry.

Tony felt Jeanne reposition her head on his shoulder and sigh contently. He looked down at her and smiled before glancing over at Ziva. He did a double take when he saw the silent tears coming down her face. His ninja was crying? It's not possible. Ziva David did not cry. He stared at her and he could tell when her muscles tensed that she knew he was looking at her. He watched her flash a playful smile to try and convince him that she was all right, but Tony didn't buy it. He fought off the impulse to let go of Jeanne and pull Ziva closer to him, so that he could murmur sweet nothing in her ear as an attempt to calm her down. Instead, taking his free hand he nudged Ziva in the arm and grasped her hand. He pulled it down hiding it behind his leg so that his girlfriend wouldn't see and start something up again. She smiled gratefully as the feeling of his large fingers intertwining with her smaller ones offered the much needed comfort. His thumb traced patterns across the top of her hand and slowly her tears stopped falling as she wiped the remaining ones still sliding down her face away with her sleeve. When the movie ended and the credits began to roll she looked completely normal again. She dropped his hand and stood up. Thanking them for their hospitality she quickly left the apartment, praying to God that she would get some sleep tonight.

_The Next Day_

They had gotten a new case that morning. A marine had been stabbed to death and the words 'Got You' had been carved into his chest. They had run the crime scene and collected the evidence. Ziva was on her way down to see Abby with a box of evidence in her hands. She exited the elevator and the loud blaring of rock music filled her ears.

"ABBY!" The Goth gave no response "ABBY!" The music was turned off and the bubbly girl spun around.

"What do you got for me?"

"DNA samples, the victim's laptop and cell phone as well as images of the wound," Ziva responded.

"Cool. Thanks Ziva," she grabbed the box spun around and turned her stereo back on again. She began typing on her computer and Ziva was turning around to leave when she decided to ask Abby if she knew about Jeanne.

"ABBY!" The music was turned down a few notches, just low enough so that they could hear each other without screaming.

"Yeah, Ziva?" She was smiling and she held her unfinished Caf-Pow in her hand.

"Did you know that Tony has a girlfriend?" She asked innocently. The music was instantly turned off and Abby's face went from bubbly and happy to angered and upset.

"TONY HAS A WHAT?" She demanded slamming her Caf-Pow onto the table.

"A girlfriend. I did not know either until last night. Apparently, they are quite serious. I believe she lives with him."

Abby took in a deep, angry breath. "Tell me everything . . . now."

"Well, her name is Jeanne Benoit. She's French and a doctor. I do not know her specialty. Also she loves the Sound of Music."

"Is she pretty?" Abby's eyes narrowed in to see if she was lying about anything.

"Gorgeous."

"How did I not know about her? How did _we_ not know about her?"

"I do not know, but I am almost positive that she did not know about us either. Also she called Tony a professor, and she claimed that she was told that I was a foreign language professor. I am not quite sure what is going on, but it is definitely something . . ." she tried to find the correct word, ". . . fishy, yes?"

"Yeah, it's fishy all right." They sat there for a few moments in silence before Gibbs called Abby to see what had happened to Ziva.

_Meanwhile, in Director Shepherd's Office_

"Jenny, we have a serious problem," Tony said as he barged into her room.

"Really, DiNozzo? You know, I swear you become more like Gibbs each day."

"Not sure if that was a compliment or not, but we don't have time for that," he said directly as he took a seat in front of her desk.

"Okay, what's this about?"

"The La Grenouille case." Jenny instantly became all business and her eyes looked at him directly.

"What happened? Is your cover blown?"

"I don't know. Jeanne was evicted from her place, so I offered for her to move in with me. Last night we are sitting on the couch watching a movie, and everything is going just fine when Ziva shows up. Of course, she didn't know anything about Jeanne and just kind of pushed past her and entered. Then Jeanne got upset, and I think I got the situation under control, but I don't know. Things definitely got more complicated."

"Tell me she knocked."

"She did."

"Oh, thank God. Do you know how hard it would be to explain this all to her without blowing your cover if Ziva just opened up your door?"

"Trust me; I was thinking the same exact thing last night. Luckily and unluckily, there was a little incident the last time Ziva picked my lock. You know it's actually kind of funny story -"

Jenny interrupted him. "I don't want to know DiNozzo." She raised her hand as an extra gesture to signal for him to stop.

"Yeah," he mumbled.

"Did she say anything that could make Jeanne question who you are?"

"The only she really said was that she was my partner. Other than that, we are in the clear. I had asked Ziva to go along with what I say and that I would explain latter."

"OK, that's a good sign. How did Jeanne take the partner thing?"

"Not well, but I cleared most of it up. I have yet to explain what Ziva meant by 'partner' though."

"All right, Tony. Keep your cover as secure as possible, and refrain from telling Ziva the whole story. I love Ziva like a daughter, but it's for the best."

"Yes, Director Shepherd," Tony said as he walked out of the room completely unaware of the storm that was brewing in the bullpen.

**A/N: I thought this would be a good place to end it. Please review and I will try to get the next chapter written and up as soon as possible. Thanks. ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry it has been a while. I had a ton of work, but I finished it so now I can write. YAY! I know that it is short, but I figured it was better than nothing. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for the awesome reviews. **

Tony walked out of the director's office feeling slightly better. Everything was going to be absolutely fine. Ziva could keep his secret, and Jeanne seemed fine with all of it. He was actually starting to feel a lot more comfortable with the whole situation . . . until he got to the bullpen:

"ANTHONY DINOZZO JUNIOR!" He cringed at the use of his full name. "When were you going to tell us?"Abby stalked into the office closely followed by an apologetic looking Ziva. "You have a girlfriend? Why didn't we know?"

"Abby –"

"No," she cut him off, "I don't want to know!" There was a few minutes of silence before Abby threw her hands up and cried, "But why not tell us?" She looked at him expectantly.

"So . . . Am I supposed to answer that?" Abby gave a frustrated cry before grabbing McGee's hand and dragging the very scared computer tech down to the lab. Tony and Ziva watched their retreating forms. The elevator door opened and closed with a ding. Two beats of silence passed before Ziva broke it:

"Tony, I am sorry. We are not supposed to apologize, I know; however, I had no idea that she would react so . . ." She struggled to find the right word. ". . . strongly. She was fine when I left the lab, but when I got in the elevator . . . Well you saw what happened. I do not know. I suppose she took the stairs, yes?"

"Yeah," he said more to himself then to her. She stood there awkwardly for a few minutes as she watched him get lost in his thoughts. Sliding past him and into her chair, she heard him say, "Don't worry about it, Ziva. I'll explain to Abby, but, um, if you get a chance could we talk? Soon?"

"How about lunch?"

"Perfect, Ziva, Thank you."

"DiNozzo, get back to work," Gibbs commanded as he walked into the building, a cup of coffee in hand.

_At Lunch_

They had agreed to get lunch around noon. After waiting for everyone else to leave for lunch in order to avoid speculation after Abby's outburst, they both grabbed their things and left the building.

They walked to the park, stopping at Tony's favorite pizza place on the way there. Tony bought himself a coffee and Ziva a tea before they found a tree to sit underneath. He opened up the pizza box and they both grabbed a slice. They ate in silence for a few moments, before Tony finally spoke, "Sorry, about keeping Jeanne from you."

"Do not apologize, Tony. It is a sign of weakness," she said with a good natured grin. He let out a small laugh.

"Yes, well, like you said, sometimes an apology is required, so I am sorry."

"Do not worry about it . . . But why did you say I was a teacher?" She knew it was his life, but she still felt a bit bothered and upset that he had lied to his girlfriend about who she was. _Is he ashamed of me?_ She thought, _it would not be hard. I am a killer: Cold-blooded, and terrible. Who would ever want to be associated with someone like that?_

"I need to keep her safe. If she knew the truth she could get hurt," he lied remembering to look her directly in the eye after what she had told him about body language. Besides, it was the partial truth: He was worried that someone would try and hurt her, but whether he was worried it would be his job or her father, he did not know.

"Oh . . . Well, yes, I guess that is a good reason," she paused thinking it all over. He let out a sigh of relief assuming she was letting it go. "But," she continued, much to his discomfort, "do you not think that she will be upset when she finds out the truth? I mean surely you must tell her at some time."

"Well, yeah, but . . ." he faded off when he realized that he had no answer for her. That was a good point. Would Jeanne understand? Pushing the thought to the back of his head, he responded, "I guess I'll just have to cross that bridge when I come to it."

Ziva simply nodded her head and took a slice of pizza. They sat in silence. They ate and just sat there. Randomly, he remembered his last name. To Ziva he was Anthony "Tony" _DiNozzo_, but to Jeanne he was Anthony "Tony" _DiNardo_. That could lead to some serious complications later on.

"Ziva?"

"Yes, Tony?"

"If you ever hear Jeanne call me DiNardo, it's just an inside joke, okay? Please don't worry about it."

"Tony, why would it concern me if you have an inside joke with your girlfriend about you last name or not?"

"I don't know. I just thought I should tell you."

"So, is this the reason that you had all of those calls from the hospital, and went there all the time?"

"Yes," he responded confused. He had known that Ziva had thought he was getting tests done, but why was she checking. "What did you think it was?"

"Honestly, I thought you were having a relapse of the plague."

"You thought I had the plague again?" He felt his stomach twist up in knots and rain down on him as he thought about all of the worry his secrecy must have caused his partner.

"Yes, but it is no longer important." Music began to play in the background as a group of kids pulled out their instruments. He watched her sit there, and close her eyes to listen to the music. Eventually, he stood up and put his hand in front of her. She sensed him move and opened her eyes. A wide smile spread across her face making her eyes shine with delight. Placing her hand in his, she stood up and they started dancing in the middle of the park underneath the tree.

Fifty feet away a silver-haired man bought his twelfth cup of coffee for the day. He paid the man before walking down the sidewalk, and right past the tree that the pair was dancing beneath. He saw them from the corner of his eye and did a double take as he recognized them. He was willing to let it slide that the young man, who was like a son to him, had kept his girlfriend form the team, in fact he was grateful he had kept it out of the office, but this? The man had never imagined that anyone on his team would break one of his rules. They had lied to him. All those times he had asked them about Rule 12 and all those time that they claimed that they would never break; it had been a lie. It was not so much the fact that they had broke his rule that made him angry, but rather the fact that they had lied to him about it that had upset him. He took one deep breath to calm his nerves and then stalked off, swearing to discuss this with them later.

**A/N: That's it for this chapter. Short yes, but better than nothing. I am pretty sure we all know who the guy at the end was (even if it was not my favorite scene). Please R&R. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

The three of them sat in the bullpen doing their work. Gibbs walked in from behind McGee's desk. His presence brought a terrifying aura to the room. His face radiated anger. Slamming his now empty coffee cup into the trash can hard enough to knock it down, he stalked into the bullpen. His team was petrified. They stared at him, eyes wide with shock and fear. Their backs pressed flush against their chairs in an attempt to stay as far away from this furious man as possible. He pointed directly at Tony and Ziva. They felt all of the color leave their faces and their hearts drop into the pits of their stomachs.

"You two, my office. Now." He stormed past them and towards his "office", known to most people as an elevator. The seemingly doomed pair shared a look that clearly read: _Help_. McGee looked in between the pair confused, and dying to know what they had done. Ziva steeled herself over before following Gibbs with a hesitant Tony, who really just wanted to run in the other direction, at her side. Gibbs walked through the steel doors. Ziva followed her face masked and emotionless. Tony looked like a small child who was being ripped apart by the impulse to run as fast as he could, hide behind his best friend, protect his best friend, and just do whatever the heck was wanted of him; was last to enter the elevator.

McGee could not tear his still wide eyes from the elevator doors. His companions were now trapped in this steel box, and he did not think that they would ever be the same when they made it out . . . if they made it out.

_In the elevator:_

Gibbs crossed his arms and looked at them expectantly. The confused agents looked at him running through the events of the day in their heads. As they tried to find whatever it was that they had done wrong. The only two that were abnormal were Abby's outburst, which could arguably be normal depending on how many Caf-Pows she had had, and then there was them at the park, which really was out of the ordinary. But they had been alone! He couldn't have possibly seen them.

"Well," he demanded.

"Gibbs, we do not know what –" Ziva started while Tony nodded his head adamantly.

"DON'T LIE!"

Startled, Ziva took a step back, and Tony's hand inched involuntarily towards his partner's. Gibbs noticed this; misreading Tony's subconscious overprotective instincts and his need for the comfort of another human being in such a scary time as being hammered by Gibbs is considered only infuriated the silver-haired man more. His nostrils flared, and in an attempt to calm himself, he closed his eyes whilst taking a few deep breaths.

"You could have told me," he said between clenched teeth, "I would have waved rule 12."

There was silence for a few moments as the younger agents dissected the true meaning of this statement. Ziva's eyes rounded.

"Gibbs," she said fiercely shaking her head.

He looked her directly in the eye before relenting as he accepted that she was not lying to him. He moved to flip the emergency switch when a look of realization flashed through Tony's green eyes.

"Wait," he blurted out, "You think Ziva and I are dating?"

Ziva placed her head in her hands as Tony continued to gesture between them. "Mother of God, Tony," was the only understandable thing that they heard Ziva mutter before she switched to Hebrew and all of her words began to run together.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"Where ya been, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked annoyance clear in his voice.

"Sorry, Boss," Tony said rapidly as he winced for the expected head slap. When Gibbs' only response was to flick the emergency switch, Ziva's head came out of her hands, and Tony's features returned to normal. Then he felt the head slap.

McGee was watching the elevator intently, his work all but forgotten. Gibbs was the first out of the elevator. He raised an eyebrow in McGee's direction, sending the young probie into a flurry as he tried to create the poorly done illusion that he had been working the entire time. With a chuckle, Gibbs sat down at his desk. McGee was stumped all over again and after staring at his boss for a couple seconds he sent a questioning look towards his teammates. Next out was Ziva, who stifled a laugh as Tony, the last out, visibly shuddered. They came back to their desks and continued working. Even McGee, who was desperate to know what happened, especially so that he could tell Abby, disregarded his curiosity for the time being and continued working.

_30 Minutes Later:_

Gibbs turned the monitor of his computer off when he finished logging off, before he left the room. McGee pretended to work until he was out of – well, hopefully out of –even Gibbs-earshot.

"What happened?" He asked in such a rushed whisper that he sounded like a teenage girl.

"Probie, mind you manners," Tony snapped.

"McGee, _nothing _happened. Trust me," Ziva assured him with a chuckled.

McGee lifted his chin ever so slightly, looked at them both skeptically, and after a moment or two proceeded to ask, "Then what was wrong with Gibbs?"

Ziva gave a small purse of her lips and a little shrug of her shoulders as she formulated her response: "It was simply a very severe . . . and incorrect misunderstanding."

"Uh-huh . . ." McGee said as his chin came back to a normal level of elevation. Everyone, but McGee started typing again.

"So . . . what exactly was the misunderstanding about?"

"McGee!" Ziva sounded a lot like she had when she had discovered the photographs on McGee's computer causing the young agent to cower.

"Gibbs thought Ziva was my secret girlfriend."

"Tony!" Ziva cried in a very un-Ziva way as she turned to face her partner.

"Why would that be a misunderstanding?" McGee asked more confused than ever now. "Aren't you his girlfriend?"

"No! Absolutely not!" Ziva assured him rapidly even as she said this she knew that she was lying about the strength of her objections against ever being Tony's girlfriend.

"Probie!" Tony shouted at the same time.

"So . . . you aren't his girlfriend?"

"No, McGee, I am not Tony's girlfriend." The words flowed from her mouth sounding as convincing as ever, but she knew deep down in her heart that they hurt.

"Who exactly was Abby talking about then?"

"She was talking about my real girlfriend – _NOT ZIVA _– Jeanne."

"Oh."

"Yeah, McGeek, oh," Tony mocked him.

"What's she like?" McGee fished for details to relay to Abby.

"None of your business, McNosy," Tony said suddenly getting the feeling that they were getting to close to home. He had to keep his cover intact, and it had already been jeopardize enough. With that they all went back to work.

**A/N: OK, really sorry. I have had a ton of homework. :( Please forgive me. Anyways I know that this is kind of short, but I already have the next part started, so it should not be that long in coming. I hope you enjoyed it, and please excuse any grammar mistakes that you might find. :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own NCIS, Eggo waffles, Aunt Jemima, or Tropicana. I would be a billionaire if I did, or at least rich enough to never have to work another day in my life.**

Abby and McGee were lying down on the lab floor string at the ceiling as they waited for the results of their latest test to come in. Their hands lay folded on their stomachs, and they both had one of their upper arms pressed against the others. Abby let out an exaggerated sigh. McGee turned his head to look at her let his cheek rest on the cool, metal floor. When he said nothing, Abby looked at him through her per feral vision before sighing dramatically again.

"What's wrong, Abby?" McGee asked getting the hint that she wanted him to say something.

"I am worried, McGee," she said bluntly. "Why wouldn't Tony tell us that he has a girlfriend? He's even told us all about his one night stands for crying out loud, but yet he fails to mention a serious relationship? It just doesn't make any sense?"

"Tony has his reasons, Abby. As much as he can get on my nerves, Tony is not stupid. I am sure he has a completely valid reason for not telling us?"

"Tony doesn't work like that. He tells us _EVERYTHING_! Especially, Ziva! She can even tell you what he had for breakfast! Trust me the rumors are true. I asked Ziva myself."

"Wait, seriously? There is no way that one is true! Ziva would use a paperclip if Tony tried to tell her what he had for breakfast every morning!"

"Well, it is. Yesterday he had Eggo* waffles, Aunt Jemima* syrup, a Red Delicious apple, and Tropicana* Orange juice, which is apparently very weird for him because he usually has frozen pizza from that pace down the street and coffee."

"Are you serious about that? She actually knows what Tony had for breakfast?"

"I know right it is totally ridiculous!" The two of them burst out laughing hysterically.

"McGee," Abby said becoming suddenly serious, "we are getting off topic. Tony, Ziva, and his girlfriend. That is what we need to focus on."

"Abby, I seriously think that Tony has just always put up that playboy front just so that girls, or women," he corrected seeing Abby's glare as she turned his head to face him, "don't get the idea that they can hurt him. Honestly, I think that Tony has always wanted something more. He was engaged once remember."

"Yes, I am the one who told you about that, which reminds me, never tell him I told you. Back to the point, we know Ziva. Well, we know her well enough that if anyone else tried to tell her what they had for breakfast every day she would flip and start diminishing her collection of paperclips that Tony swears she keeps in her pocket just so that she can threaten him with them. The fact that she is willing to sit there and listen to Tony ramble on about the weirdest things is absolutely absurd! She has to love him to do that!"

McGee opened up his mouth to refute her, but promptly shut it when no words came out. He didn't know one person, who wasn't in love that could listen to someone talk about the strangest, most annoying, useless facts, and actually not have a problem with it. Everyone else, even Abby, would have at least told him to shut up. Not Ziva though. She sits there and she listens every single day. Sometimes McGee actually thought that she enjoyed it!

"Maybe Tony's girlfriend does the same thing," McGee suggested weakly.

"McGee, are you trying to make me kick you out. We," Abby rolled her eyes at McGee's raised eyebrows, "okay, well, mostly me, had a plan to get Tony and Ziva together by the end of the year! We – meaning, I – cannot fail! TIVA FOREVER! TEAM TIVA ALWAYS CONQUERS!" Abby chanted.

The beeping noise coming from her computer ended her rant prematurely, much to McGee's pleasure. They pushed themselves up off of the ground and walked over to their respectful place text to each other at the computer. McGee leaned over Abby's shoulder to get a better look as Abby scrolled down their findings.

"McGee," Abby said, "I think it's time to call in Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"I couldn't agree more, Abby. I couldn't agree more." McGee was already punching in the number as he gave his response to Abby.

_In the Bullpen:_

"McGee," Gibbs barked into his phone causing his two other agents to look up with interest, "All right, we'll be right down. You two, let's go."

Ziva and Tony followed him without question down to Abby's lab.

_In the Lab:_

"Gibbs! Gibbs! Gibbs!" Abby cried, "Guess what we found!"

His only reaction to Abby's demands was the raise of an eyebrow as he handed her yet another Caf-Pow. Abby let her face fall in exasperation at his unwillingness to guess before she smiled brightly at the offer of her favorite drink. Taking a sip of the highly caffeinated drink, she turned back to the computer.

"Okay, there were only four consistent numbers ad email address on his phone and computer. All of them match up with each other. Obviously, one was his parents. They already told us that he called or emailed them every night; sometimes both. They also have an alibi. The next number belongs to a woman named Rachel Mare, his sister, and then there is Amy Hamilton, who, by the look of these emails, is his girlfriend. The last number belongs to a Dr. Reed."

"So, our Lance Corpal was sick?" Ziva asked confused.

"No," Abby said excitedly as she typed something rapidly into a search engine.

The page popped up on the screen, and Ziva read, "Relationship Savers: Saving relationships one day at a time."

Tony grimaced, "Looks like there was trouble in paradise."

_Ten minutes later:_

Tony and Ziva were walking towards the car. Tony had been talking endlessly ever since the left Abby's lab. Ziva listened calmly with a soft smile on her face.

"I am just saying that if you are having serious enough problems to have to go to someone that you don't even know for help then you should probably just end it. I mean seriously why would you want some random person knowing everything about your personal relationship?"

"Maybe if you thought that the relationship was worth saving, you would want to," Ziva responded quietly.

"So, you are saying that you would go to a relationship counselor if you were going to break up with your boyfriend? The two of them weren't even married!"

"I am not saying that I would necessarily go to a counselor in my relationship, but I guess if it really meant enough to me, I would be willing to ask someone else for help. Perhaps not someone I do not know, but someone."

"Well I wouldn't," Tony retorted as the climbed into the car.

"If you and Jeanne were having problems then you would just end it?"

"Jeanne and I don't have any problems, and if we did, which we don't, then we would take the time to fix them ourselves. Besides," Tony continued as he pulled out of the parking lot, "Jeanne and I are perfect. She understands that I have to work long hours sometimes and I understand the same goes for her. We understand each other. There is no way we could have problems. Jeanne is perfect."

Ziva started to feel a strange emotion wash over her. It was . . . jealousy? That was new. She could not remember any other time that she had felt this jealous over something. She tried to shake the feeling, but it seemed firmly rooted, and even though all she wanted to do was drown Tony's voice out, she could not.

"Jeanne is beautiful, compassionate, and smart: Everything that anyone could ever want. Seriously, Ziva, sometimes I can actually see myself marrying her, and starting a family. You know the American dream with the kids, dog, and white picket fence."

He turned his head to look at her. She was staring out the window, and he waited for her response, buts he just kept looking out the window. Ziva felt a lump form in her throat as he was describing his future, and she just could not shake it. All that she wanted at this moment was to burst into tears, which frightened her. She was angry, jealous, upset, irritated, and happy for him all at the same time. _Tony is happy. That is what I want. I just want him to be happy._ But she could not convince herself to be really happy for him. She still felt the jealousy and pain in her heart. Her stomach was twisting in knots, and she just looked out the window even though she could sense him looking at her.

"Ziva?"

She did not respond as Tony pulled the car into the parking lot of the practice.

"Ziva?" He tried again.

"We are here," she stated as she climbed out of the vehicle.

"Yeah, obviously," Tony declared, slightly annoyed that she was suddenly pushing him away again. "I was asking if you are all right."

Forcing a smile, she responded, "Tony, I am fine. I was just trying to figure out what a picket fence has to do with your future and the American dream, and why it has to be white."

"It's an expression, Ziva," Tony said as he walked up to her and threw his arm around her shoulders.

"Well, they make absolutely no sense." Ziva smiled as all of her previous emotions fled her body and a nice, warm, happy feeling took their place. Together they walked into the practice together.

**A/N: Okay, sorry it has been a while. I was super busy this week, and I wasn't home at all yesterday. I hoped you like this chapter, and hopefully the next won't be far behind. I was wondering if I should put some McAbby into this, and if you have any suggestions for where I should take this story please just leave a review with your ideas. Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Next Chapter! Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes.**

**Have no fear; this is very much a TIVA fic.**

**Disclaimer: Again I do not own NCIS. *Sigh***

**Enjoy. :D**

Tony and Ziva walked into that practice. The secretary looked up at them with a confused expression. They looked to happy. Usually the couples that came in here looked agitated, upset, and just plain old unhappy. Some couples came in screaming at each other, another couple came in with the girl in tears, and yet another where the _guy_ had been in tears. Honestly, the secretary had thought that she had seen it all, but a completely happy looking couple coming in for help with their relationship was new.

"Hi," the woman behind the desk said brightly to them, "are you here for an appointment with Dr. Reed?"

"Uh, no, we don't have an appointment. We are actually – "

The receptionist cut her off, "Oh, that's all right. We accept walk-in's too." She picked up the phone and called the doctor, "Dr. Reed, I have a couple for you. Are you free?" She shook her head a few times, ignoring Tony and Ziva's attempts to tell her that they weren't here for relationship advice, and that they weren't even a couple. "Okay, Dr. Reed will be with you in a few moments; please take a seat."

Ziva rolled her eyes, but followed Tony to the seats. They sat down on a couch together, and Tony picked up a magazine. Ziva's arm slipped through his and she rested her head on his arm as they both skimmed through the magazine. They sat there quietly for a few minutes, neither really paying attention to the magazine after a little while. Ziva enjoyed the simple feeling of their closeness, and Tony contemplated what he had been thinking about in the car. At first he saw himself and Jeanne with two little kids running around with his smile and Jeanne's eyes. Then the kids changed. They still had Tony's smile, but they no longer had Jeanne's straight, light-brown hair, or her green-blue eyes. They had curly, dark hair and dark, sparkly eyes. The little girl laughed and it resembled Ziva's, not Jeanne's. His eyes widened as he brought himself out of his daydream. He glanced down at his partner, and he felt himself smile. Then he stopped. _Tony, what are you doing? You are dating Jeanne. Just a few minutes ago, you were talking about marrying Jeanne, and now you are thinking about Ziva? What the heck has gotten into you?_

"Tony," Ziva asked sensing his eyes on the top of her head, "what are you doing?"

"Nothing," he replied quietly returning his attention to the magazine.

A couple of seconds had passed when Tony said, "You never answered my question."

"You never asked one," she responded while turning the page of the magazine for him. He had not even realized that he had not yet turned the page for the past three minutes. It was sad actually considering the fact that the pages they were looking at where both advertisements with only one sentence under each page-sized picture.

"I implied one."

"Which implied question would that be? You imply quite a lot," she stated all though she had a good idea of which one it was.

"Do you think I – Well – Would it be a good idea if I asked Jeanne to marry me?" He felt her tense against him. "I mean it wouldn't be any time soon, but you know . . . eventually."

She did not answer for some time, but eventually she sighed, "Tony, it is not my place to say. If you want to marry her fine and if not I am fine with that decision." He thought he heard her change her tone slightly when she said 'that', but ruled it off as a mishearing.

"Ziva, I am asking for your opinion. Please, just tell me what you think."

"I do not think that it would be a good idea. Tony, she doesn't know what you do, or who cares about you. Tony, none of us knew her, and you just want us to say that I am fine with you marrying her? Does _she_ even know you?"

Tony no longer wanted her opinion. He had hoped that she would tell him that she thought it was a great idea and to get engaged as soon as possible. He had wanted her to quiet his own doubts about marrying Jeanne, but now it seemed obvious that he should have never expected her to give him such an answer. She had only met Jeanne a day ago.

"Tony, why do you want my opinion anyways? If you love someone, usually you don't care what anyone else thinks."

It pained her to have to almost encourage him to ask Jeanne to marry her, but she felt that that was what would make him happy. Tony opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment the psychiatrist walked into the room.

"Hello, I am Dr. Reed," an older man with blond-grey hair, blue eyes, and a British accent walked into the room. Both Ziva and Tony saw him glance at their linked arms. Rapidly pulling her arm out from his, Ziva sat up very quickly with her back completely straight.

"Hi, Dr. Reed, I am Special Agent Tony DiNozzo, and this is Officer Ziva David. We are here to ask you a few questions about Lance Corporal Dylan Mare."

"Oh, certainly come into my office."

The tall man led them through to his office and they sat down on the love seat in front of his chair. The man looked at them with a knowing smirk on his face. It made them both feel slightly uncomfortable.

"So, Lance Corporal Mare was seeing you about problems with his girlfriend Amy Hamilton?" Tony inquired.

"Yes, however, I cannot disclose any of it to you because of patient/doctor confidentiality."

"Does that rule still apply when the patient is dead?" Ziva asked.

"Oh my God!" the man exclaimed. "Dylan is dead?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Tony informed him.

"I am so sorry. I will help in any way that I can, but I am afraid I still cannot disclose that information to you because Ms. Hamilton is still alive. You will have to ask her to tell you about what was said in this room."

"Yes, Dr. Reed, thank you," Tony said respectfully.

"If Ms. Hamilton allows you to access the information, please just give me a call back and I can give you anything that you'll need to know including the reports and my analysis and suggestions."

Everyone stood up to walk out of the office. Both Tony and Ziva shook the man's hand. They prepared to walk out of the office when Dr. Reed stopped them.

"You know it is rather surprising that a law enforcement agency allows to people who work together to date."

"Oh, no we are _**NOT**_ dating. Our boss actually has a rule against co-workers dating," Both Tony and Ziva assured him at the same time.

"Well, you two must do a very good job at hiding the truth from him," Dr. Reed said with a wink.

"We don't have anything to hide!" Tony almost shouted.

"Well, then you both do an absolutely terrible job at displaying the fact that you have nothing to hide. I don't know one person that wouldn't believe the two of you to be dating."

His phone started ringing. The agents took this as a chance to leave the building. They both waved goodbye and started out of the office. Once they reached the outside of the building, Ziva exclaimed, "Why do they always think that?"

"What that we are together?"

"Yes, _that_," Ziva said with mock disgust.

Tony was just about to make a comeback when his phone started to ring, "One second, Zee-_vah_."

Ziva shook her head and opened up the car door. "Hello," Tony said as he flipped open his phone, "Jeanne? Hey, what's up? Tonight? With Ziva? Yeah, sure that sounds awesome, just let me make sure that she is free tonight. Give me a sec." He took the phone away from his ear and covered it with his hand. "Ziva are you free tonight?"

"No, I actually have plans tonight." In all honesty, Ziva did not want a repeat of the first time that she had met Jeanne.

"You are lying."

"Tony, I would not like to get in the way of you and your girlfriend's evening."

"Oh, don't worry about it. We want you there. Jeanne wants my friends to be her friends, so you are coming."

"Tony, I really don't know-"

He held up a hand to silence her and spoke into the phone, "She said that it is fine, so we'll leave form the apartment at 7:00, and meet up with Ziva there at 7:30? All right see you there. Bye."

"19:00 at Raze?"

"That is fine. . . . You two live together?"

"Yeah. She lost her apartment a little while ago, so I let her move into my place. We are looking for a house too."

"Oh," Ziva said simply as she tried to swallow the lump that formed in her throat as she tried to stop the tears. Only one fell, and she wiped it away before he should have been able to see it, but he did. It broke his heart to think that something was hurting her, but it never even occurred to him that it could be his relationship with Jeanne. They drove the rest of the way to work in silence with Tony staring at Ziva whenever the chance presented itself, and Ziva staring out the window, so that he could not see her face.

**A/N: I know it took me a while, but I think the fact that there are two chapters in one day should make up for it. I hope you enjoy. The next chapter is the three of them at dinner and a worried Tony. I know these last two chapters didn't have a lot of Tiva, but there will be a ton in the next one or two to come. I hope you all enjoyed it. Please review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Enjoy! Please R&R. Sorry for any mistakes.**

**Disclaimer: Not mine . . . Again.**

Tony and Ziva walked back into the bullpen. Ziva took her seat and begin typing rapidly. Tony stared at her. He saw her suck in a breath and tense, but continue working. A few minutes passed and eventually she got up to file something. She was about to walk away when he grabbed her hand, spinning her around so that she was forced to face him.

"Ziva, what is wrong?"

"Nothing, Tony," she whined.

"Why do you keep lying to me?"

She gave him a death glare and ripped her arm out of his grip before leaving the bull pen. He just stared at her retreating figure, and after he heard the ding of the elevator signaling that the doors were closed, he placed his head in his hands and groaned. Right at that moment, McGee walked into the room. He sat down at his desk and stared strangely at Tony.

"You all right?"

"Do I look all right, Probie?"

"No, but I believe the underlying question there is 'what's wrong?', but then again I may not want to know," McGee replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"It's Ziva. One minute we are fine. She's laughing, we are joking with each other, and everything is perfect. Then the next moment, she is completely upset. She's doing the whole I-am-fine bid again, and all of her walls are up. I don't know what's wrong with her, and maybe I did something that upset her, but I can't think of anything that I could have possibly done recently that would push her over the edge. I am just so confused, and I want her to be happy. I just want everything to go back to the way it was," he confided in McGee.

"May be she's just having a bad day. Gibbs has been looking at her funny all week. I am not quite sure what is going on, but I think whatever happened it was really big."

Right at that moment Gibbs entered the room. He looked around as he sat down. McGee looked sympathetic towards Tony, and Tony looked completely lost and slightly distraught. He turned to see Ziva, but found nothing.

"Ziva?" He asked his agents where she was.

"I don't, Boss," McGee answered truthfully.

"She left about two minutes ago," Tony answered from behind his hands.

"Why?"

"I don't know she's been acting weird all day."

With that Gibbs was out of his chair and at the steps in a moment. He ran down them and towards Abby's lab. He popped his head in, but she was not there. He left before Abby noticed him, and made his way down to Autopsy. She was not there either. He ditched the elevator and ran up the steps until he reached the main doors. He bolted out of them and into the parking lot. A light drizzle had begun to fall as Gibbs looked around for Ziva. She was nowhere to be found, but her car was still there. He was about to run back into the building when he heard someone whisper his name ever so softly. Whipping around towards the direction of the sound, he saw Ziva step out of the shadows. She looked upset as she was not even attempting to hide her emotions. She stood next to him, leaning her back against the wall.

"Ari?" He questioned softly.

"Partly," was her short response as she stared at the pavement under her feet.

She did not have to say anything else to make Gibbs understand. He already knew what was wrong with her, and there was nothing that he could do to fix it. He walked up to her and pulled her into a fatherly hug. She fought the urge to cry again as she hugged Gibbs tightly. Everything seemed to be going wrong for Ziva David lately. She just wanted something to go right for once and get her out of this dinner. She could live with the rest of it if she just did not have to sit through another grueling evening with Tony and his girlfriend, who seemed oh so perfect. He really seemed to love her. Ziva could put up fine with all of his one night stands. Sure she was jealous, but they never meant anything to him. This was different. He was actually in a committed relationship; this _did_ mean something. And it hurt: It hurt knowing that he didn't love her; that she was just the love sick puppy that followed him around, while in reality he wanted nothing more than a friendship. It ripped through her heart like a sharp blade tearing it to shreds.

Gibbs knew this, and although he had a rule against co-workers dating, he had always figured it was only a matter of time before he had to throw that rule out of the window. It had already happened once with McGee and Abby. Honestly, he had thought that one was going to last longer, but the minute he saw Tony and Ziva together he knew that he had much bigger problems to worry about: McGee and Abby were less public about here attraction to each other. It was just there, but Tony and Ziva's practically screamed at you. When they told him that they weren't together, he had seriously contemplated injecting both of them with truth serum. Now, he knew. Ziva had not lied when she had said that they weren't together. She wouldn't be out here on the verge of tears if she was.

"Ziver, I'm sorry," he murmured softly to her.

He heard a single sob escape her throat as she shook form her effort to suppress her cries. He was unsure of how to truly handle this. He felt like a father whose daughter just came home after having her heart broken. Kelly had died before he ever had the chance to go through this with her; now he was left holding his "daughter" as she broke down with absolutely no experience on how to handle this type of situation. He whispered comforting words in her ear, praying to God that he was saying the right things, as he let her cry. This whole week had just been completely un-Ziva. It seemed as though the hardened Mossad agent that had once resided in the slender form was gone. Replacing it was a broken, scared, and remorseful girl with no idea what to do. He decided that right now the best thing he could possibly do was hold her until she had cried all of the pain away.

After a few moments she had seemed to calm down considerably. She pulled away from Gibbs, and refused to look him in the eye as she muttered something that sounded very much like an apology. He didn't have the heart to tell her that apologizing was a sign of weakness.

"Go home, Ziver. I'll bring your stuff down."

"Thank you."

He had begun to walk away when she called, "Gibbs."

He turned around and looked at her tear stained face as she continued, "Please do not tell him. I do not want him to know."

He shook his head as he walked up the steps and headed to the bullpen.

_In the bullpen:_

Tony glanced at the time displayed on his computer. Gibbs had left ten minutes ago, and he still had not returned. Tony could not keep still as he drummed his fingers across the solid surface of his desk and bounced his knee. The clock never seemed to change. It just stayed the same. He had figured that she would be with Abby finding out something about the case, or in the gym beating the crap out of a punching bag. That would not take Gibbs long to come back from, but the boss had disappeared. Tony was afraid that if he left his desk that they would walk in, and he would miss them, but what if he could help her. He groaned as he let his head fall to the desk. Suddenly, he heard the elevator ding causing his head to shoot up like a lightning bolt.

"Is she all right? Can I help? Does she need anything? Is she hurt? What happened? Was she mad or upset or just Ziva? Did she tell you what had upset her? Where is she? What took so long? Did someone try to hurt her? Because I swear I'll kill them," he added. Tony fired off questions so fast that even Gibbs had stopped walking and was just staring at him just like everyone else, who had dropped what they were doing as they stared, mouths ajar, at the senior field agent.

When he paused to take a breath, Gibbs interrupted him before he could get another fifty questions in, "She's fine, DiNozzo."

He grabbed her bags and coat before turning towards the elevator again.

"Is she leaving, Boss?"

Gibbs sighed, "Yes, DiNozzo. I am sending her home earlier."

"Why? What happened?" He ran over to his boss and looked him directly in the eye. "Is. She. All. Right?" He asked very slowly.

Gibbs raised his eyebrows at the man's boldness. Tony was unnerved by this. He had to know what happened to Ziva; he didn't care if he got murdered for it.

"Did she tell you what was wrong?" Again he received no reply, so he begged, "Please, Boss, just tell me what is wrong with her. I need to know what is wrong."

"You should know," Gibbs said cryptically as he side-stepped Tony and entered the elevator. The doors closed with a ding, leaving Tony to decode the real meaning behind his statement.

_Tony's apartment:_

The day had been slow and _very _unproductive seeing as he could not stop worrying about Ziva. He unlocked his door, threw his stuff onto the ground in the hallway, and collapsed onto the couch. He closed his eyes as he rubbed his hands over his face.

"Long day?" he heard a voice form down the hall ask.

He felt himself inwardly cringe, which was strange considering the fact that usually Jeanne helped him forget about his day.

"Yeah," he replied tiredly as he pushed himself up off the couch, "My students just did not understand the topic today. We had to go over it twenty times . . . literally."

"Oh. Well, may be dinner will help you take your mind off of things."

He was now standing in front of her as she said this, and he almost suggested canceling dinner on Ziva's behalf, but he wasn't sure how he would explain that one without allowing her to make a reasonable argument that would end up with him, or rather Ziva, getting roped into going anyways.

"Your tux is on the bed, and you should probably hurry because you don't have a lot of time."

Walking into the bedroom, he found his tux and shoes all laid out. In the bathroom, Jeanne had her makeup items and jewelry sprawled across the table. He decided to hop into the shower first even though today was spent finding a paper trail.

_Ziva's Apartment:_

She looked at herself in the mirror before leaving the room to go sit on the couch. She had come so close to calling Tony, and asking him if she could cancel, but she had stopped herself. That would give him a hint to the fact that she was upset over him, and Jeanne. That couldn't happen. He could never know. She would get over it eventually . . . she hoped. She stared at the television that Tony had bought her. She was not really seeing anything as she lost herself in the memory:

_It must have been eleven o'clock at night when Ziva David heard a knock at the door. Cursing whoever it was profusely in Hebrew she pulled herself out of bed. The one time that Gibbs had let them go home early. The one time that she was actually getting some sleep, and some idiot had the nerve to wake her. Grabbing her gun from under her pillow, she made her way to the door. She looked through the peep hole, and contemplated going back to bed and just letting him stand there. Dropping the gun to her side, fully aware of the fact that he would not leave until he got what he wanted, she undid the lock and pulled the door open._

_ "What do you want, Tony?"_

_ "Hello, Ziva, nice to see you too."_

_ "Tony, it is eleven o'clock. I have not gotten more than five hours of sleep for the past two weeks; I would like to return to bed."_

_ "Don't worry, Ziva, this won't take long," he said making his way into her house._

_ "Make yourself at home," she suggested sarcastically with a wave of her gun._

_ "Thanks, Ziva," he responded playfully. Then he noticed the gun in her hand. "Were you going to shoot me?"_

_ "Possibly, if I did not know you ... or if you stay here longer than an hour," she stated as she shrugged her shoulders. Placing the gun on the coffee table and dropping onto the couch she asked again, "Tony, what do you want?"_

_ "Oh, right! Well, the last time I was here I noticed that you didn't have a TV, so I took the liberty of getting one for you because someone not having a TV here in the 21__st__ century is just plain un-American, not to mention completely unusual. So, I bought you one."_

_ "Tony, I do not need a television. I do not watch TV. I like to read. We have been over this."_

_ "Ah, yes, but how do you expect me to come over here if you don't have a TV?"_

_ "How often to you expect on coming over here?" She asked astounded._

_ "I don't know Zee-_vah_, but we can' go to my place every time we have a movie night."_

_ "Tony, we have never had a movie night!"_

_ "Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that too. Well, basically, you definitely need to be educated about the movie world, so I have instigated movie night in order to teach you."_

_ "You do not seriously plan on having one tonight do you?"_

_ "Of course, not, but I do need to install this TV, so that we are prepared."_

_ "Fine, there is an empty spot over there that you may use," she said with a wave of her hand in the direction that she was talking about._

_ She felt her eyes start to droop as he began working. This was new for her. She usually never trusted someone enough to fall asleep near them in this type of situation: when they were fully awake and definitely able to kill her. She is usually much more alert in situations like these. She was jolted to consciousness when she felt him sit next to her. He had already set up the TV, and was explaining to her how to work it. She honestly didn't plan on using it much without him so she didn't pay much attention. In fact, before he had finished she had already fallen asleep again. _

_ "Ziva, stay with me here."_

_ "TONY," she whined as she grabbed a pillow placed it forcefully on his lap and thrust her head into it to drown out his voice. _

_ She heard him laugh, and began blindly lashing her right fist at him. _

_ She felt him gently grab her wrist and place it back down in his lap, never removing his hand form hers, as he chuckled, "Okay, Okay. Little ninja is tired. You can sleep, while I figure out how to work this."_

_ She expressed her agreement by curling into a ball and pressing her head further into the pillow. She felt herself subconsciously move closer to the warmth he offered as his hand ran comfortingly through her thick, messy curls before she allowed herself to drift into a deep sleep._

_ When she woke up he was still there. He was fast asleep, and snoring as loud as ever. Her head was still in his lap, and his hand was tangled in her hair. Their other hands were intertwined on the pillow. She gently moved his hand from her hair and was pulling her other hand out from his when he jerked up. She could fell heat rise to her cheeks when he saw their hands. He blushed slightly and told her that he would leave the instruction manual on the table before almost running from her house._

She found herself smiling at the memory. She tried to calculate how long it had been since then: 7 maybe 8 months. Definitely before Jeanne. They didn't do that kind of stuff anymore. Sighing she looked at the clock, grabbed her stuff, and walked slowly out of the front door.

_Tony's apartment_:

Tony was now standing in his room in his shirt and pants working on tying his tie. Jeanne was in the bathroom putting her earrings in. They had not spoken since he came home, but it was a comfortable silence.

"Jeanne?"

"Yeah?" She called.

"If Ziva calls me DiNozzo then it's just an insider. When she first got to work they had printed my name DiNozzo instead of DiNardo on her contact sheet, so she thought I was named that for like two months before we actually met," he informed her remembering that although Ziva wouldn't think anything of him being called DiNardo, it was a very real possibility that she would call him DiNozzo.

"Oh, okay . . . that's a little strange that they would mess up DiNardo with DiNozzo, but okay."

There was silence for a few more moments before Jeanne said, "Hey, while we are on the topic of Ziva, what did she mean by partner?"

Tony froze; suddenly very glad that Jeanne couldn't see him, he answered, "Oh, we have been working on a project together for a while: Foreign Movie Studies. Basically, since I am not multilingual she helps with the language barrier and my movie classes work on watching them and assessing them just like any other movie, and her foreign language classes work on translating movies in whatever language that they are learning."

"Oh, so it's just a work thing that you guys have been doing for a really long time?"

"Yeah, that's all it is," he lied.

"Well, that's nice to know. Honestly, I thought she was your other girlfriend or something."

Jeanne walked out of the bathroom to see an opened-mouthed Tony. He felt the urge to ask Ziva's earlier question of why people always thought that, but he figured admitting to his girlfriend that other people were suspicious about their true relationship was not in his best interest.

"No, Jeanne, Ziva's like my sister. We are close, and I care a lot about her, but we are really just friends." It was a lie. He didn't know it would be a lie until he had said it, but it felt like a lie. Everything about what he just said made him feel like he was lying. That freaked him out a little. They had always had a special, complicated, and confusing relationship, but he had never thought that when he rebutted someone's suggestion that they had mutual feelings for each other he would feel like he was lying.

"That's good to know. It's not that I ever doubted you, but I was afraid that someone would take you away from me." She placed a chaste kiss on his lips and then left the room only calling back to him once to say that if he didn't hurry up then they would be late.

_At the restaurant:_

Tony and Jeanne had already been seated, but there was still no sign of Ziva. Of course, she still had another five minutes until there scheduled time, but Tony could feel himself getting more and more agitated to see her. He was still worried about her, and the fact that she had yet to arrive was driving him up the wall. He kept looking around for her, hoping to see her anywhere. _Maybe I should call her? No, Tony, your girlfriends right there, you came early, and Ziva is technically still on time, and you want to explain how calling her would make sense? But what if something is wrong with her? She's fine! Gibb's would have told you. Well, I could just check up on her. _His internal battle raged inside of him more and more as the time ticked away. It was two minutes after seven and he literally had her speed dial ready to call her when he heard Jeanne say hello. Turning his head in the direction that Jeanne was looking in, he saw his partner. She was wearing an olive green dress, and her hair was done up like it had been when they were undercover. Her entire outfit reminded him of the time that they had been undercover.

"Hi, sorry I am late," came her accented voice.

"Oh, we haven't been here long," Jeanne assured her as she stood up to hug her. Ziva was slightly taken aback by this, but after half a second returned the hug. Her eyes met Tony's and a silent conversation ensued:

_ You all right?_

_ I am fine. Just a bad day._

_ You can talk to me._

The roll of her eyes signaled that she knew that, and that he was silly for suggesting it, which made him smile. Jeanne let go of her, and they both took their seats.

"So," Jeanne asked trying to start a conversation, "how have you been?"

"I am doing fine. The students had a rough day to day, but hopefully tomorrow will be better." As she said this her eyes drifted back to Tony's, which were expressing undying gratitude. She gave him a soft smile in return. Jeanne's eyes flickered in between the pair.

"Tony said that his class was having trouble too. Were you guys working on something together?"

This time Tony met Ziva's eyes, asking her permission to answer, which she freely gave before turning to Jeanne, "Yes. They were having a rather difficult time. The language was Hebrew. That is a very complicated language, trust me. They didn't understand the movie at all, even with the subtitles, and then adding question about the structure of the movie, character development, plot, lighting, and filming techniques. I t was a disaster. We might put off on trying to do that again."

"Yes, it was rather complicated. Perhaps, something with more English cognates would be better," Ziva suggested.

"I could not agree more."

The waiter came interrupting their conversation, and Ziva, who had not even picked up a menu since arriving, was flustered. Tony took the liberty of ordering for her, "I'll have Minestrone, and Ziva will have Spaghetti Bolognese."

The waiter left, and Ziva thanked Tony when he turned to her with his DiNozzo-smile. Jeanne could not help, but watch the two of them even more intensely. Their silent conversations and insane chemistry made her suddenly feel like an outsider looking in. In her eyes, Ziva should be the one with that felling, and she should be the one having silent conversations with Tony. He should know _her_ well enough to just order, and get it right. She had wished that she never suggested Ziva should come along, but it was too late. Perhaps, it was for the best. She would be able to observe the two of them together more than she had the first night.

They had a light conversation for the first few minutes until the food came. Then they ate in silence for a while with both Tony and Ziva glancing at each other every few seconds. Tony wished that Jeanne was not here right now because then he could ask Ziva what was wrong. He contemplated what could have upset her so much, but his mind kept coming up blank. Jeanne cleared her throat, and Ziva kicked him under the table. That was when he realized that he had not done anything but stare for her for the past few minutes. He almost blushed, and Ziva actually did. Jeanne was starting to get really agitated at their games.

"How long have you known Tony, Ziva?"

"Oh," She looked at Tony for help, and she felt three taps on her hand signaling three years, "three years. We started working together six months after I started."

"That's interesting," Jeanne tried to come up with something more to say, but couldn't.

"You said you're a doctor, right? Do you enjoy it?"

"Yes, it is so amazing. Just saving people's lives. I mean there are some really bad people out there. One time we had this man come in with a bullet to the head, he didn't make it, but it just made me realize how terrible some people really are."

Her statement had made Ziva start to felt really awkward considering the fact that she had killed many people including her brother. Several of which had been killed in more painful ways then just a shot to the head. Tony noticed her discomfort, even though she was doing a great job at hiding it, and reached out to hold her hand under the table. His fingers intertwined with hers reminding her of the night that she had oh so recently recalled, and when his thumb brushed comfortingly over her knuckles, she began to feel guilty. His girlfriend was sitting across from her, and here she was holding Tony's hand. She knew it probably meant nothing to him other than to comfort her, but she couldn't help the guilt that she felt. Eventually, she pulled her hand away causing Tony to give her a funny look before realizing why she did it. He unexpectedly began to feel a great amount of guilt as well.

Jeanne noticed that something had just happened and was starting to feel bile rise in her throat. She grabbed Tony's hand placing their entwined fingers on the table as a sign that Tony was hers before continuing, "It was really sad actually. I never imagined that anyone could be so terrible."

Ziva looked up in order to find something to entertain her attention. She couldn't take the clear sign that Jeanne was trying to give her, or the awful guilt that was beginning to take over her as she saw her brother's dead body flash in front of her eyes. Her muscles tensed more and more with each word that Jeanne said. It seemed as though the said woman found more and more pleasure in her now clear discomfort with every word. Her attention was suddenly caught by a man with the same height and build as her brother. His back was turned to her, but it was enough to make her call out his name under her breath. This caused Jeanne to stop talking, and Tony, who had been trying to change the topic for the past three minutes considering the fact that Ziva was already upset enough about her without this being added to her plate, turned to look at her. As though the man heard her, he turned around and looked her directly in the eye. She smiled politely back, but felt a sharp wave of pain, loss, and disappointment wash over her when she realized that his face was wrong.

"Ziva?" Tony asked carefully as he put a hand on her shoulder.

Her head turned back to look him in the eye, and what he saw there almost broke him. Her eyes held unshed tears, and she kept shaking her head with her mouth open to say something, but nothing came out.

Finally she forced out the words, "Tony, I am sorry. What did I miss?"

"Nothing; are you all right?"

"Fine, I just thought that he was someone that I knew."

"Oh, Okay."

Jeanne cleared her throat again and tightened her hold on his hand. Tony let his hand fall under the table. He brushed it against Ziva's hands that were shaking. He shot her a final concerned look before turning to Jeanne. He gave her a small smile, which she returned, sending a smirk in Ziva's direction. The Mossad officer was slightly shocked by that. Jeanne had always been so nice, but she figured that when they felt threatened by someone else, everyone changes. Surely all of the murders she had ever seen had shown her that.

Ziva no longer felt so guilty. She actually felt her normal self kick in for a single second, and as off as this week had been, she let the dangerous, playful Ziva return her eyes, at which Tony broke out into a smile, and Jeanne shrunk back a little. Ziva put on a competitive smile starting to enjoy her night. If Jeanne was intent on making Ziva uncomfortable then Ziva would make her squirm.

The waiter came back to collect their dishes. He seemed to notice Ziva for the first time since she had not ordered her own meal. She flashed him a flirtatious smile. One he gladly returned.

"Would you like to order anything for dessert?" The man asked more to Ziva than to anyone else.

She allowed her eyes to scan up and down keeping the smile on her face the entire time. Tony's eyes narrowed, burning two holes into the man's head. He wanted to make some movement that would make the guy go away; tell him that Ziva was off limits, but he couldn't because she wasn't. She was technically not his.

"We are fine," he cut in, his tone held a hint of forbiddance, "No, Thank you."

Jeanne tried to find some way to return Tony's attention to her, but it was beginning to seem as though she had never truly had any claim to it at all tonight. When the man left, Tony turned to Ziva with a raised eyebrow. She raised both of hers as if to ask him what was wrong.

"Really? Him?"

She just laughed in response with her eyes asking him if he was jealous. She took a sip of her water; their eyes never broke contact. Jeanne latched onto Tony's arm almost frightened at Ziva's sudden change in personality, and jealous that Tony was so clearly jealous of the man to whom the woman had given her undivided attention to. This only made the assassin's smile widen.

Tony could still tell that she was hiding something. She hadn't been acting normal all night, and now she was, but there was still something that told him that she wasn't completely fine. That worried him. She seemed better, but at the same time it seemed like she was hiding everything behind this mask of her normal self. He stared at her for a while until she glanced back at his girlfriend signaling that he was doing it again.

Jeanne sent him a livid look before getting up and just leaving. Tony groaned knowing that he was going to pay for the happenings of tonight. Ziva felt bad for Tony, but she couldn't deny the fact that she was ecstatic that she had shown Jeanne up. Tony called over the waiter as he and Ziva stood up to leave as well.

The man walked over looked at Ziva. He never took his eyes off of her. Tony, who was trying to pay the guy, was starting to get really irritated. He stepped in front of Ziva blocking her completely from the man's line of view. The man grudgingly took the credit card, and walked off.

He returned a few minutes later with the receipt and Tony's credit card, both of which he handed to Tony. Turning to Ziva, he gave her his number, and asked her if maybe she would like to grab a drink. She refused, but the man was extremely persistent. Tony fought off the urge to punch the guy knowing that if he didn't get Ziva out soon she would probably do it for him.

"C'mon, Zi," he said throwing his arm around her shoulders as thought that would protect her.

They walked out to the parking lot. When Tony closed his eyes and let out a slow sigh.

"She took my car."

"What?"

"My car. Jeanne must have taken it after she left. I forgot that she had had the keys."

Ziva walked to her car, and just as she was about to open her door she turned back to Tony asking, "Tony would you like a ride?"

"Yes, please! Can I drive?"

He ran up to her attempting to grab the keys out of her hand, but she pushed him back with a shake of her head.

'Sorry, Tony, I am driving."

"C'mon, Ziva, please just this once. I might get sick if you drive," he complained.

"Tony, my car my rules."

Tony started to grumble about it, but climbed in the car without further argument. Then Ziva took off haphazardly to Tony's apartment.

**A/N: Sorry for the delay, but as a reward for your patience you get a 12 page long chapter! :D I hope you enjoyed it. Please review!**

**By the way, I am going on a family trip soon, which means no internet, and I probably won't get another update in: So, please don't expect one until after the 30****th****. Thanks. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Ziva swerved into a parking space on the side of the road. She stopped the car and waited for Tony to get out. After nothing happened, she stole a quick look at him out of her peripheral view. He gripped the car door eyes shut tight. She turned back. Again she waited, but nothing happened.

"Tony, what are you waiting for?"

He never responded, so she got out of the Mini Cooper, walked over to his side of the car, and opened up his door. She looked at him expectantly. He opened his eyes slowly.

"Tony, get out of my car," she demanded.

"Well, sorry, Zee-_vah_. Your driving is ridiculous."

"Oh, it is not that bad!"

"Remember, our first official case? When I threw up in the van? Yeah, well, we almost had a repeat."

Ziva rolled her eyes, but stepped out of his way as he climbed out of her car without further commentary. He gave her his DiNozzo-smile, which she returned, prior to walking in the door of his apartment building. He glanced over his shoulder one more time before he stepped into the elevator to go to his apartment.

He picked the lock and walked into his apartment. He felt a change in the air the minute that he stepped into the threshold. He looked around before proceeding to remove his tools. He placed the items back in his pants pocket. Being cautious with every step he took, Tony entered his house. The only light on in the entire apartment was in the kitchen. He inched into the room. Jeanne had her back to him, but he could still feel the anger radiating off of her.

"Jeanne," he called tentatively.

He saw her tense up as she turned around to look him in the eye.

"What _was_ that?"

"Listen, Jeanne, I know that you are upset, but just hear me out – "

"You don't have a good explanation, do you?"

"I can't tell you all of the details, mainly because I don't know them, but also because they are not mine to tell. Just trust me, whatever happened today was not good. I don't know how to explain it, but Ziva needed someone today."

"Did it have to be done like that?"

"Like what?"

"Tony, you know exactly what the heck I am talking about?"

"Jeanne, that's just the way that we are," he informed her. He simply didn't see the problem with it.

"Are you kidding me? That's what you call friendship? I was practically ignored the entire time!"

"Oh, Jeanne, I am sorry. I didn't mean to ignore you. I guess I was just worried about her. I, honestly, can't tell what in God's name is wrong with her, but it is something serious."

"So, then you two are always that intimate?" Jeanne disputed, refusing to let her argument go.

He furrowed his brow. Her statement confused him. Their friendship just seemed normal to him: never overly intimate, but never blocked out from each other. Well, at least not usually.

Walking up to her, he put his hands on her hips before replying, "I am being honest when I tell you that we are just friends. She is my friend; I am hers, and I was worried about her."

"So, then you are like this with all of your friends? Even the guys?"

"Of course, I am not like that with the guys!"

"Fine, the girls then."

Tony was about to lie; say of course. He knew the truth though. When compared to his and Abby's relationship, or even his and Kate's relationship, his relationship with Ziva was completely different. They were all close to him, but Ziva was different. Ziva was always different. He wanted to lie, but found he could not. Jeanne had been lied to enough

"Not – not necessarily," he grimaced.

"Oh my God," Jeanne said in response.

The doctor stalked off to their room. Tony groaned. This was becoming ridiculous. Sure, maybe their relationship was a little different, but this was just getting ridiculous. Everyone else seemed to understand their relationship. Maybe it was just because they barely knew each other, but he worried. He had always worried! Especially about Ziva. It was his nature; if he wasn't worried about her when something bad happened, then something was wrong. He walked up to the door of the bedroom, ready to try and fix this, when the door burst open. Jeanne was lugging a suitcase behind her, two bags hanging over her shoulders. She shoved past him, and headed for the door.

"Whoa, Jeanne, where the heck are you going?"

"I don't know, Tony! I don't know!"

"Are we breaking up?"

"Maybe . . . I don't know! God, this clearly has been going downhill, so maybe we should just take a break. I just need sometime – alone – to figure everything out."

"We weren't having any problems until two days ago, Jeanne," he reasoned.

"Yeah, two days ago I met your "friend" Ziva David, and realized that I might just be a friend! Not a girlfriend, not a lover, just a FRIEND! How could that make you feel, Tony? If you found out that I had a friend, who was a guy, who I treated exactly the same as you, how would you feel?"

"I don't know. I guess –I suppose I would be jealous," Tony replied truthfully.

"Exactly," she replied, "I just need some time."

With that she walked out of the door, and left Anthony DiNozzo standing in his apartment, worried that he not only broke up with his girlfriend, but that he had blown his mission. He sat down on his couch, ran his hands over his face, and did the only thing that felt right at that moment. He picked up the phone, and dialed the only number he truly knew by heart.

"Hey, Ziva."

**A/N: Another Chapter! I know that it is short, but I am leaving in like an hour, so I can't write any more. I hope you all have a Happy Holiday! Please review.**

**Disclaimer: NCIS is not, and never will be, mine.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey! I hope everyone had a Happy Holiday and good New Year!** **I know that the last chapter was VERY poorly written and EXCEPTIONALLY short. Hopefully, this will make up for it. Sorry about any mistakes. I don't have a Beta. Please R&R! :D**

**Disclaimer: I did not get NCIS for Christmas. :(**

"Tony?"

He could tell by her voice that she was confused. Not that he blamed her. After all, they had seen each other ten minutes ago.

"Yeah, It's me," he answered unnecessarily.

"Are you in trouble?"

"Kind of."

"Where are you? Are you hurt? What the heck happened? Should I call Gibbs?" Her tone told him that she was worried and his immediate answer to each question was fundamental.

"Not that kind of trouble," he stated softly.

"Oh."

After that they just listened to each other breathe. Mice could not have been more silent. It seemed to be a neither awkward nor comfortable silence. How long they remained this way: Neither knew for hey had long ago lost track of time. They simply remained, unable to speak or hang-up, unable to do anything.

"Tony," Ziva said unsure of what to really say because she could not see him, nor did she know what happened, "do you need something?"

"Could you come over?" He asked quietly; the embarrassment evident in his voice.

On the other end Ziva smiled softly. Tony almost expected her to make some sly comment about Tony DiNozzo, the player, being uncomfortable when talking to a woman, but the remark never came.

Instead he received: "Sure, I'll be right there."

Knowing that "be right there" for Ziva was pretty literal, he abandoned all pretences of changing, and forced himself to be satisfied with the simple removal of his jacked and shoes. Sure enough, right as he was hanging up his suit jacket, he heard someone picking the lock. Expecting her to just come right on in, he didn't bother getting the door. She never entered. The door was unlocked, but she was not entering his abode. Confused, he walked up to the door and looked through the peephole. Well, it was definitely her, but she wasn't acting like her. Ziva's hand clutched the door knob, and she was chewing on her bottom lip, contemplating something. Her expression changed as she changed her mind. For a split second, Tony thought that she was going to leave, but to his surprise, she knocked instead. He opened the door without delay. Ziva sighed in an annoyed manner when she noticed that he was looking at her like she was crazy.

"Why did you not just open the door?"

"Why didn't you just come in?" He questioned in the same manner of which she has used when regarding him.

"I did not know if Jeanne was here," stated Ziva as her eyes darted around the room in search of Tony's French-American girlfriend.

"Why would I matter if Jeanne was here?" He asked suddenly vexed with the fact that his relationship with one person had such a large affect on his other relationships.

"Well, she didn't seem too pleased at dinner, and I figured that it would only upset her more if I simply tangoed in."

"Waltzed, Ziva, it's 'Waltzed in', and you're welcome here anytime that you feel like. Especially, if I asked you to come in the first place. Forget about what Jeanne thinks," he spat out bitterly.

Rolling her eyes at his correction of her English, yet still committing the correct word to her memory, Ziva drew her eyebrows together as she asked, "Tony, what happened?"

"Ugh," he groaned as he walked inside followed closely by Ziva, "We got into a fight."

He plopped down onto the couch, and Ziva sat millimeters away from him with her now shoeless feet underneath her legs. She placed a gentle hand on his arm, silently willing him to continue.

"She said that she needs time, and I guess she is jealous of or relationship, or something. She doesn't seem to understand that I can still be friends with you and date her at the same time," he retold he story; he aggravation was ostensible in his voice.

"And I miss Kate," he confided in her, his voice barely above a whisper.

His last statement made her tense. They never talked about Kate. Ever. That subject was WAY off limits in their relationship. Ziva was always afraid about what would happen to them if he found out about Ari.

He must have noticed her discomfort for he was quick to assure her: "Not that I don't love you, Ziva, but Kate was like my sister. I just really miss her."

Ziva understood the feeling. After all, she had been disorientated all week because of the loss of her brother. It made it all so much worse knowing that she was the one to put a bullet through his head. It was still hard so hard comprehend how her once sweet, caring, talented, amazing brother caused so many people – good people, whom she had come to love, nonetheless – so much pain.

Tony looked like he was going to cry. Ziva hated seeing him like this. The ex-assassin began to feel disgusted with herself. Her brother had turned into a terrible person, but was she not worse? She had not flinched at killing her own blood – her family. Did hat not make her just as bad? And now she was lying to her new "family". In a way she caused them almost as much pain as Ari. Now, she felt like crying because seeing Tony look so broken and in so much pain scared her, and she missed her brother regardless of his awful deeds.

"I am so sorry, Tony." Her voice cracked as she said this causing Tony to look up at her with concerned eyes.

"He was not always bad. There – There was a time when he never would have done something like that. I should have seen it com – coming though. Perhaps, if I had noticed it, and talked to him sooner –" Her breathing was raspy and uneven as she tried to force the words out of her mouth.

Ziva had always seemed so solid. She was a rock; nothing could penetrate her. But now that rock was cracking and crumbling. Her walls had been eroded away.

"Zi," he uttered gently.

He attempted to embrace her, but she jerked away from him whilst shaking her head fiercely. The agent's face showed his hurt; however, his primal instinct to protect the small Israeli was so strong that he tried again, even though he knew that it would be extremely easy for her to cause him bodily harm. He succeeded. Pulling the deploring woman onto his lap, so that she was straddling it, he whispered sweet nothings into her ear. The once-upon-a-time playboy smoothed out the liaison's wild hair hat was now toppling down her back.

She wailed into his shirt. What mascara she was wearing now stained the front of the overly expensive white shirt. He could feel the tears seeping through his currently soaking shirt and onto his skin. Each tear, each cry of pain and grief, felt like a thousand knives ripping his heart apart.

"I – am – a – monster," she cried between gasps.

"You are not a monster, Ziva. Don't ever think that."

"I killed him!"

Her sobs worsened with each passing second.

"My – My brother!"

Tony had never known that she had a brother. Her little sister, Tali – Yes. A brother – No.

"It's okay. It's all going to be all right," he promised.

"Ari! Ari!" she bawled.

Tony tensed against her at the thought of the man who had taken Kate's life. His sudden coldness only caused her to cry harder.

Forcing his muscles to relax, he asked, "I thought – I thought Gibbs killed him?"

He could feel her head her head shake against him as she pressed it into his chest ever so much harder as though being closer to him would take away all the pain of her loss. Tony sat there, mouth agape at this revelation. Ziva had killed Ari. All of those times when they shut her out, when Abby made snide, cruel remarks about or to her and Tony never stopped her from saying them even though Ziva was his partner, or when they talked about how much they all hated Ari, she could have rebutted every single one, yet she never did. He felt a self-loathing take over.

"Why?" he found himself asking even though he held no right o know.

"He –he was – going to – kill Gibbs."

The sentence was broken and choppy due to her sharp intakes of breath, but it still hit Tony like a ton of bricks. Ziva had killed her brother, someone whom she had known her whole life; someone she loved, for Gibbs, whom she wasn't even on a first name basis with at the time.

"Oh God, Ziva."

He wrapped his arms tightly around her fit body. He hated himself. It was official, he absolutely despised himself. He felt sick: Literally and physically sick when he realized, he had protected her from outsiders, but never from the insiders. He had allowed Abby to hate her, looked the other way when Abby had accused Ziva of not caring about Gibbs when he had gotten injured, had let her sit behind a wall when she first came, so that they could not see her until they were ready to accept that Kate was gone, and never once had it ever crossed their – his – mind to ask her how she was feeling about losing her colleague . . . even worse, her brother, too. Yes, he truly hated himself.

Her sobs had quieted significantly, so the two investigators just sat there. Periodically, Tony would feel a few more tears soak through his shirt. Sometimes, he would feel her shake or hear her gasp. Occasionally, the three would merge together, but it never got any worse than that. You could have heard a pin drop, yet it was a comfortable silence.

Tony continued to stoke her hair or rub her back. Her breathing deepened, and eventually her rather loud snores filled the room. Tony smiled at her "drunken sailor" snores, and continued on to press a light kiss on the top of her head. He permitted his eyes to close, resting his chin on her head.

He was half asleep when the door opened. He was about to stand up, but Ziva let out a subconscious whimper as her fists tightened around his shirt.

"Don't worry, Ziva, I'm just going to see who's at the here," he informed her.

However, before he even attempted to get up his questioned was answered:

"Tony, I think I might have jumped the gun. Maybe w – WHAT THE HECK?" She screeched at the sight of the jean and t-shirt clad 'ninja' and Tony.

Ziva awoke at her outburst. Her reflexes kicked in, and she endeavored to leap to her feet, but Tony's strong arms had unknowingly wound their way securely back around her at the first sign of a "threat". Acting as bounds, they inhibited her from doing so causing her to crash half on top of him and half on the floor instead of gracefully landing on her feet. As he released/helped her up, Jeanne continued to glare at them. She opened her mouth to say something when the fiasco was finished, but Tony raised a hand to stop her.

Placing his mouth by Ziva's ear, he whispered, "Hey, you need sleep, so while I sort out his whole mess I want to you to go into my room and sleep. There are sweats and basketball shorts in the second draw on the left, and some old shirts or sweatshirts in the one above it if you want to change."

"Tony, I should probably just leave," she responded back jus as quietly.

"Ziva, I am serious. You really need to sleep. You wouldn't have fallen asleep two seconds ago if you didn't. Knowing you, you probably wouldn't have even old me that if it weren't such an off week and you weren't so tired. So just go ahead and sleep in my room. Besides, I don't want you driving home until I am completely sure that you are all right."

The look on his face told her not to argue anymore. Nodding obediently, she made her way to the proper door. She paused for a final moment to throw one last look over her shoulder before disappearing from sight.

Tony and Jeanne waited for the click of the door, which would signal that it was officially closed, prior to begging their battle against each other.

"DID YOU LIE TO ME?"

"No," Tony replied in a calmer, yet just as forceful tone, "I didn't lie to you. You are the only person I am dating, but you are not the only person I care about."

The venom in his voice as he annunciated the last words was thunder striking.

"Tell me what she means to you," she demanded.

The lack of reply only made her more enraged.

"TELL ME!"

"I DON'T KNOW ALL RIGHT! I DON'T FREAKIN' KNOW! IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU?" Tony fumed.

"Then give me your best guess," she commanded coldly.

"She's just . . . Ziva."

"WELL, WHAT IN GOD'S NAME DOES THAT MEAN?"

"How do you expect me to describe my relationship with Ziva to you if _I_ don't even understand it?"

"How can you not know what someone means to you?"

"Whatever it is that Ziva and I have it," Tony paused, choosing his next words carefully, before continuing, "Well, it doesn't fit a strict definition. She's my best friend. I love her and I hate her. We annoy each other to death, but I don't think I could live without her. Okay, so I do most of the annoying part. Ziva only gets under my skin when she does something stupid or refuses to let me in, but that's just her nature," he admitted.

I would never trade her for anything. I don't know what I would do without her."

_At least he is being honest,_ Jeanne thought before asking, "So, where does this leave us?"

"I really like you; I may even love you, but if what you want for this relationship means that I have to change my relationship, whatever that may be, with Ziva, then it would be best if you just left right now."

Jeanne shifted uneasily from foot to foot as she reflected on the situation.

"Before I say anything, I need you to tell me the absolute truth about what you meant when you said that you loved her."

"I can't. It's undeniable that I love her. It's impossible not to; however, I haven't figured out what type of love I mean when I say 'I love her'."

In the back of his mind he thought that he might have a good idea after the daydream he had earlier about his future, but he told himself that it was just because she was there with him at the time. This time, though, he found it harder to accept what he was telling himself. Much harder.

"Ok . . . That's a lot of I-don't-knows."

"It comes with the territory."

"I think I might have overreacted. Maybe we should try this again. After all, if she was that upset about something then it's possible that you really were just concerned about her," she decided with gesture of her hand to the rivers of mascara and tears on his shirt.

"We're good then?"

"We are fine," she responded before breaking out into a smile.

Tony was surprised to discover that he was less enthused – disappointed even – then he thought he would be. He was only glad that his mission wasn't ruined.

"Perhaps we, Ziva and I, that is, shout try to get to know each other again," she suggested.

Tony inwardly groaned knowing that it would only lead to more complications.

"That would be great," he forced out sounding only semi-thrilled.

"Why did you say it like that?"

"Well, I just don't think that tonight is the best night," he covered, "It might be better some other night."

_Like never, _he added in his head.

"Well, don't be an idiot! Of course, I didn't mean tonight! It's late, I think all of us are exhausted, and after whatever went down tonight, it's obvious that this is not the right time."

"Right, what was I thinking?" He joked stiffly.

"Perfect! I have tomorrow off, and it's Saturday, so you should too. We'll do it then!"

"Tomorrow? Are you serious?" Tony questioned in disbelief.

"Why not tomorrow? It could be weeks before we get another chance where all of us have off. Besides, I want to get the whole mess that was tonight behind us as soon as possible," she added with a shrug of her shoulders.

Tony compelled a smile to appear on his face. Her face brightened as a result. Tony waited for the young doctor to say something. She remained silent. He started to look around as if something to say would appear out of thin air.

"So . . ."

"So, are we going to sleep?" The doctor inquired as she motioned to the room in which Ziva slept peacefully. (Luckily, the firmly shut door blocked out most of her snoring.)

"Ziva's in there," Tony answered her question as thought the notion of letting Ziva sleep as long as she wanted whether he was tired or not was the palpable answer.

"It's our room."

"Your point?"

"I, kind of, feel like sleeping in my own bed."

"We have a couch . . . Ziva needs the bed."

"Doesn't she have her _own_ bed?"

"But she needs sleep more than we do, and I don't want to wake her."

"Ok. Only one of us can fit on the couch."

"Valid point. I'll take the floor," the Italian-American Investigator resolved.

Jeanne gave an indignant huff before accepting what was happening and grabbing blankets and pillows from the closet in the hall.

They set up their sleeping areas prior to lying down. Tony, despite the discomfort he felt, was asleep within mere seconds. The slightly insulted woman followed suit shortly after.

**A/N: Ok. Chapter 9! Sorry, it took a while. Just got back. I hope that you like this chapter, and the next will hopefully be up soon. BTW, in the next chapter there will be a visit from one of Tony's old friends. Hopefully, the prospect of that will keep you reading even if I am a very inconstant updater. Oh, well, I hope you liked it. Please review.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry for the wait.**

**Disclaimer: I went to my mailbox and there was nothing in there that said I was now the rightful owner of NCIS. Apparently, ordering it on EBay is a scam. CURSE THE INTERNET! (Aka: It is still not mine.) **

**I also don't own Coach. If I did, I just might be able to afford the rights to NCIS, and then I wouldn't have to wait for the TIVA episode of the WORLD! (As you can tell, I am extremely impatient.)**

**Please R&R! **

**I 3 Reviews!**

**Thanks to everyone who has!**

Sun streamed through the window. A groan escaped her lips as she turned her head. Light still penetrated her tightly shut eyelids. She pulled the sheets up over her head still not yet ready to take her head off of the pillow. She closed her eyes peacefully when the light finally left her alone. She snuggled deeper into the sheets. Sighing contently before allowing herself to try and sleep again. Then she realized it. Her eyes snapped open. She sat up like in flash. This was _not_ her room. These were _not_ her sheets. Tony. It was all Tony's. The previous night flooded into her mind: Leaving work early, dinner, Tony's call, Ari, Jeanne, ending up here – everything. How had she possibly forgotten? She tried to figure everything out when she truly comprehended the time. Her eyes became the size of saucers as she tried instantly rotated her head in the direction of the clock.

_9:00! Crap, I am late! So Late!_

She dashed out of the bed and sprinted out of the room. She looked around frantically for her shoes. She flew past the kitchen not even realizing that the fresh smell of coffee wafted from it. Her shoes weren't where she put them. Panic flooded through her veins when she realized that Gibbs was going to kill her.

"Shoes are in the bedroom," someone form the kitchen called out.

She didn't even take the time to register who had spoken before she backtracked as fast as her feet would carry her into the bedroom. She practically kicked the door down as stumbled into the room. She saw her shoes resting on top of the dresser. She ripped them from their place and tripped back down the hallway as she struggled to put them on while still walking.

Tony watched in amusement as the usually very put together Mossad officer rushed around the apartment like a kid who was about to miss the bus. He drank his coffee and struggled to remain in control of his laughter when Ziva let out a little yelp before almost crashing to the ground as her right shoe slipped on unexpectedly. She caught herself on the counter. Pushing herself up, she caught sight of Tony standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee.

"Tony, what the heck are you doing? We need to go like right now! We should have been gone at least three hours ago! Why did you not wake me?"

"We don't have work today, Sweetcheeks."

"Yes, we do. Our team is on call today. Look," she commanded as she grabbed his arm and forcefully dragged him over to the calendar.

"On Call," she read aloud with a great deal of difficulty considering that it was covered up by white-out.

"Our _team _is on call. You and I are not."

She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant by his peculiar statement, but her ringtone interrupted her. The constant sound same from the bedroom into which she went. She unplugged her phone and answered.

"David."

"Ziver, you oaky?"

"Yes, Gibbs, I am fine. I am sorry that I am late, but –"

"Don't worry about it Ziva: The director told me you weren't feeling great. I just wanted to check up on you," he cut her off.

"Oh, I . . ." She faltered not knowing what to say.

"I know you aren't sick. Look, I think it's a good idea that you are taking the day off. Never would have expected it from you, but I think it'll do you some good. Take some time to get your head on straight, rest, and if you're ready to come back tomorrow, just give me the call; if not, I want you to take the day off again."

It was the most she had ever heard Gibbs say at once.

"Um . . . okay, thank you," she mumbled confused.

"Ziva, I'm sorry about Ari. I never you would have asked if I had known."

He had broken one of his own rules. He almost never did that. She felt like crying again. Perhaps he was right; she probably wouldn't even be any good in the field anyways.

"That's a sign of weakness, Gibbs. It does not matter, anyways. He was a changed man. Thank you, though; I know you never would have if you had known. I'll see you tomorrow. Do you think you could just keep me updated?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"Sure . . . All right, bye," he said gruffly, "Oh, and tell DiNozzo to get down here. Now."

The call ended. She gave a light laugh at his usual manner, and all emotions of the previous words left her. She smiled and turned to her partner.

"What?"

"Why did you I get a call from Gibbs asking me about why the director told him I was sick?"

Tony's face paled. He answered, "I just didn't think that it was the best idea for you to go in today."

He seemed genuine enough, but she could still tell that he was hiding something form her. She squinted her eyes, studying him. Her eyes ran over every detail of his face. Her chin lifted a little.

"There is more to it," she avowed.

"Well, it would really help me out, but I _do _want to keep an eye an on you."

"Like I am a child?"

"No, like I don't want you doing anything reckless. I want you to be safe. I don't want anyone to hurt you."

She scoffed. "Yeah, sure," she muttered under her breath before audibly asking, "So, what exactly am I doing for you?"

"Well, Jeanne, you, and I are all going out."

"Where, exactly?"

"Don't know yet," he responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Fine, but Gibbs is going to kill you."

Tony paled again and swallowed, "Gibbs wouldn't kill me."

"Do not be so sure," her sing-song voice called out from the kitchen.

Tony laughed shakily and followed her into the room. She hopped onto the counter before picking up his coffee cup, and taking a gulp of the warm, caffeinated liquid. Her nose scrunched up in distaste. He was already holding the hazelnut flavored creamer that she loved out to her. She accepted it happily and dumped a significant amount into the cup. Again, she took a sip; however, this time she smiled in approval of the dark-brown-turned-beige liquid.

Tony smirked at her, and leaned up against the counter that she was sitting on. She smiled down at him, and for a few peaceful moments they just stared into each other's eyes. The comfortable silence was interrupted when they heard a groan come from the other room. They shared one last look of what seemed to both to be disappointment before they were separated as Tony went to the other side of the room.

A disheveled Jeanne entered the room. Her light-brown hair was a mess, and her eyes were still half shut as they scanned the room. She opened the cupboard and grabbed a cup, which she filled with coffee from the pot sitting beside Ziva. It was as though she was completely oblivious to the thick air that encompassed the room or the looks that flickered between her boyfriend and his partner.

"So, what do you want to do today?" She asked groggily.

"Anything that you guys are up for," Tony replied.

"You choose," Ziva offered.

"We could go to a movie, or we could just walk around," Tony suggested.

"I am cool with that," Ziva concluded as Jeanne nodded.

"What movie?"

"Doesn't matter," Jeanne answered for them.

"I will go home, get changed, and then pick you both up in an hour," Ziva stated as she slid off of the counter.

"NO!" Tony screamed.

"God, Tony, just let her drive."

"No way. If Ziva drives we're all going to end up in the morgue. Trust me. We are taking public transportation or walking or something. No one is getting without in ten feet of a car today – Especially if Ziva is the one driving," he added.

"My driving is not that bad!"

"You're right. It's not bad. It's TERRIBLE!"

"Those are synonyms."

"Yeah, but terrible sounds a thousand times worse."

Ziva rolled her eyes, and their bickering continued until Jeanne cleared her throat. Ziva shook her head, clarifying that she would be back here in an hour. She left the apartment. A few minutes later you could hear the screech of tires form the streets below. Tony cringed as he heard cars honking.

"One day she is going to get herself killed," Tony muttered before leaving the room to get ready with Jeanne close behind.

_One hour later:_

Ziva knocked at the door to the apartment. No one answered; lacking patience, she just picked the look and entered the room. She plopped down on the couch. She looked around before remembering the book that she had left here months ago. She got up and grabbed it form the shelf by Tony's movie collection. She dropped herself onto the couch and began reading.

Jeanne walked into the room. She had sworn that she heard someone knock, but when she checked the door, no one was there. She furrowed her eye brows and was about to walk out of the room when she heard:

"Tony is taking forever, yes?"

Jeanne jumped in the air, and let out a little shriek causing Tony to literally drop what he was doing. They heard him give a yelp as whatever it was hit him. A few more items crashed, and then he ran from the room.

"Jesus, you scared me," Jeanne gasped with a hand on her heart.

"Sorry, I –"

"Okay I'm here. What happened?" Tony questioned out of breath.

"Nothing, Ziva just startled me," Jeanne replied waving it off.

"Ah, the ninja strikes again. What did you do this time, Zee-_vah_?"

"I did not do anything. I simply asked what was taking so long."

"Well perfection does take some time. I mean you can't just get looks like these overnight. No, no, no. You have to have superior genetics, and then you have to keep them up. Natural will only get you so far," the senior agent informed her gesturing to his face.

"So, no one can ever look as good as you, yes?"

"Very few people can. In fact, I know one person whose genetics might even e superior to mine."

Jeanne blushed at his statement, but the fact that he never once looked her way made her feel slightly uneasy again. She chewed her lip as she waited to be acknowledged. Feeling unsure of whether or not he was really talking about her, she just waited.

"Ah, so does this mean that she has to spend a lot of time on her appearance like you do?"

Tony leaned up against the couch his face just inches from Ziva's.

"No, I envy her because she has to spend very little time on her appearance to look perfect," he paused and glanced at Jeanne when he remembered that she was still there and that he was supposed to be in love with her before continuing, "What made you assume that it is a girl?"

Ziva noticed when he glanced at Jeanne as did the doctor. She felt a sinking feeling and a painful twist in her chest. Jeanne felt like she could fly right at that moment. Now, she was almost positive that Tony had been talking about her. He really didn't love Ziva as much as he loved her. Ziva swallowed her tears, and continued:

"You're Tony DiNozzo: Everything is about one girl or another."

"Well, sometimes it is about another," he responded soft enough for just Ziva to hear.

She allowed a soft smile to grace her lips as he slowly pulled back from the couch. He gave her one last smile before he proceeded to turn around.

"I'll be done in a few minutes," the man called over his shoulder.

Ziva rolled her eyes, smirked, and let her body fall back onto the couch.

_After the movie:_

Jeanne shuddered as she proclaimed, "That was the creepiest movie ever. I mean absolutely terrifying. I have no idea how I am going to sleep tonight!"

She clung to Tony, holding his arm in a viselike grip. Ziva walked on the other side of Tony just two steps behind the couple.

"You'll protect me though. Right, Tony?" she asked him with wide eyes.

Ziva mocked her silently. Tony saw her out of the corner of his eyes; as badly as he wanted to say something to her, he decided it was better to respond to Jeanne's question.

"Of course, I will," he replied planting a kiss on her head.

The former assassin rolled her eyes. She found this whole thing highly annoying. She always assumed that all of Tony's girlfriends, whether one night-stands or not would annoy her; however, Jeanne had seemed different. She seemed like she wouldn't be quite so annoying; like she might actually know something about the world. Now, she seemed just like all the others: Annoying, ridiculous, and idiotic.

The girlish woman smiled brightly as she clung even tighter to his arm. She felt so happy. She had completely forgotten about the Israeli who was trailing closely behind them. She smiled up at the tall "professor", who returned it.

"I feel like ice cream."

"We are only a few blocks away from one, do you want to get some from there?"

"Sure."

"Ziva, do you want to go get some ice cream?"

"As long as it is okay with you," she responded over politely causing Toy to give her a questioning look.

Her eyes responded for her, saying that she would explain everything later.

"Oh, Tony, look there is Coach! We _HAVE _to go in," Jeanne pleaded.

Tony nodded.

"C'mon, Ziva," she squealed as she grabbed the Israeli by the wrist and dragged her into the store. Ziva shot pleading looks back to her partner who shrugged his shoulders in defeat. She signed to him to get over there now. He just ran after them with furrowed eyebrows, suddenly worried about where this was going to lead to.

_In the store:_

"Oh, Ziva, don't you just love this one! Ugh, why do they all have to costs so much?"

"Yes, they are expensive," she agreed, forcing the words out of her mouth.

She thought another look at Tony. Her eyes begged for him to save her. His apologized, but informed her that he was powerless. Her brown orbs seemed to stretch out his name in a pray to be released from the tiring conversation. He just silently told her that he was sorry and powerless.

An idea lit in Tony's mine. He smiled to himself, and walked over to Jeanne. He wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered something into her ear. She turned around, smiled, told him something unidentifiable, and kissed him on the cheek. Ziva had to force herself not look away during this little scene. Tony glanced at her smiling. She shook her head with large eyes.

'What are you doing? Why are you leaving me?' They asked.

'I have a plan,' his green orbs responded.

Hers seemed to ask, 'What to save yourself?' as she rolled them.

'Only partly.'

'I will kill you with the paperclip in my pocket if you ditch me here!' The assassin's anger filled eyes screamed.

'Trust me, you don't want to do that,' his signaled.

With that, he left a baffled Ziva standing there. She was able to see him walk out of the doors before she was forced to return her undivided attention to the woman beside her. She continued to fake a smile, and nodding her head politely although she was not really listening as the woman continued to talk about the purses and makeup and men and random stuff that did not entertain Ziva at all. Suddenly, as if God had heard her mute cry for help, her phone began to ring.

"David,"

"Miss me?" The voice through the other line asked.

"Where did you go?" She asked smiling at the welcome distraction.

"I have a better question: do you always carry a paperclip in your pocket?"

"Yes, I do. They are much easier to conceal than a knife, but, if used properly, they can be just as effective," she countered with a grin that was obvious in her tone.

"You terrify me, you absolutely terrify me," he told her, "Can Jeanne hear any of this?"

"Do not worry. I will not scare off your little girlfriend. I told her I had to take this, and left when I heard my phone ring. I thought it might be McGee or Gibbs telling me about the case."

"Good. If she hears anything suspicious then she might figure it out. She's not stupid."

"Oh, really? 'Tony, you'll protect me right?'"She mocked.

"Low blow, David, low blow."

"I could not help it. See, this is why very few of my friends are woman."

"Hmm. Well, that is an interesting thought. So, you have no women as friends?"

"I said I have more male friends then I do female. I never said I do not have any."

"So, then who are your friends?"

"Abby, Noah, Rachel, Hannah, Jen, and Sarah are some of my friends."

"That is not a lot, Ms. David."

"I did say that I only had a few."

"So, why do I only know Abby and Jen, who I can only assume is the director?"

"Because the rest of them are from Mossad, and happen to be some of my childhood friends," she said laughing.

"Of course, the little assassin clique. Let me guess, you guys have sleepovers and instead of talking about boys and clothes, you talked about guns and knives?"

"We are not _that _predictable, Tony. Although all of us were highly trained, we only talked of such things occasionally."

"Wow. You are seriously crazy. Absolutely insane; when I see you again, you must tell me all about them," he requested.

"I shall. Perhaps, you will even meet them one day."

"Not sure if I would like to meet four other crazy ninjas, but I will if you promise to make sure that they will not kill me I'll accompany you in visiting them."

"Of course. I think you should come back soon. Your girlfriend is about to spend all of her money on useless items."

"I can feel my wallet getting lighter all ready," he groaned.

"Why would your wallet be getting lighter?" She asked her partner with confusion evident in her voice.

"It's an expression, Ziva."

"Another stupid idiom that makes no sense: Why did I not see that coming?"

"Because you are Ziva," he told her.

"I shall see you soon, Tony."

"Goodbye, Sweetcheeks," he said before hanging up.

Her heart warmed at the nickname that he had given her while they were undercover. She held the phone to her ear for a few more seconds, relishing in the momentary feeling that he was hers, before turning around. She walked towards Jeanne, ready to face the Tony/Jeanne love fest that she knew was only moments away.

She saw Tony walk in, and never once did he break eye contact with her as he walked over to Jeanne, where he covered her eyes with his hands and made her guess who it was, even though he knew that the answer was obvious. She forced herself to remain impartial as she watched. She forced herself to smile as though nothing was off when they looked her way, and she forced herself to tell Tony how wonderful their time had been even though he knew that she was lying.

_ Why? Why do I do this to myself? Why do I make myself feel pain? _She thought, but she knew the answer. She knew it was because she loved him. She knew it was because it made her happy to see him happy, so she would do anything to let him be happy even if that meant that she felt a fiery pain in her heart every two seconds. She knew the answer, yet she could not help but wonder what it would be like to make herself happy. To look away when things got to painful to watch. To show when she was annoyed as she would do to anyone else who caused her such aggravation. But then she would have to look at Tony, and see him be upset – hurt. Then she would have to know that she caused him that. Then she could lose the small part of him that she had left – The ever so small part that she could clam as hers; that she held desperately onto as he just slipped farther and farther out of her reach. That is why she did it. That is why she forced herself to watch, and when Tony looked over his should, flashed his thousand watt smile at her, and drew her closer to them by throwing an arm around her shoulders as he held Jeanne's hand, it was all worth it.

**A/N: It is late, and I have to go. I thought that this would be a good place to end it. Sorry, that the last paragraph sounds so much like a One-shot and doesn't really match the style of the story, but for some reason it seemed right, so I left it. Yes, if anyone is confused when Tony says: 'Sometimes it's about another,' he is referring to Ziva, not Jeanne. Also, I am really excited to write the next chapter, sorry I couldn't put it in this one, but I must go. Just know that I have BIG – HUGE – MASSIVE – MAJOR plans for that chapter. It will be EXTREMELY – INCREDBILY – IMMENSLY – AWESOMELY Tiva filled! YAY! **

**Forgive me for taking forever, but I had major writer's block, and the real world apparently had plans of its own that did not involve allowing me to right more Tiva filled awesomeness. }:(. Not happy. **

**Sorry about any mistakes, not betaed.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked it; I will try and update faster, and please review because they make me happy.**

**If you have any suggestions feel free to tell me those too.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Next Chapter, probably one of the fastest updates I have ever accomplished.**

**In this chapter, you will finally find the promised friend, a woman (Not what you think) from Tony's past, Tiva goodness, and Jeanne jealousy! **

**Also, HUGE thanks to Earanemith! Your idea is being featured in the next chapter. You, my friend, are a GENIUS! *Abby hug* 3**

**Disclaimer: Claiming that you have a fatal medical condition that can only be healed by obtaining all rights to NCIS does not work. Apparently, Tiva Fever and Delusional NCIS Fanatic Syndrome are not believable diseases. The only thing I do own is Mrs. Ida Bosco and Matthew Russo. :) **

**Reminder: No beta, sorry. And please R&R.**

**Reviews are LOVE and ABBY HUGS!**

As they walked Jeanne talked constantly. Ziva was forced to respond most of her comments while Tony whispered his own into her ear. She often could barely hold in her laughter as he brought up old inside jokes on whatever he saw or heard. Ziva often playful hit him discreetly in the side so that she could hear. He would then over exaggerate the pain any time Jeanne looked the other way. They were in the middle of a conversation when Jeanne suddenly got the bright idea to try to rip Ziva from Tony's side to show her something. The assassin was less then pleased when she forced to leave her preferred position so that she could tell a woman, who she only was speaking to because of Tony, which perfume smelled better. Jeanne went off to look at more, while Ziva gravitated back towards Tony.

"Why must she constantly talk about everything? I do not even wear perfume!" Ziva complained to the man who stood at her side.

"Well, Zee-_vah_, most American women enjoy talking about those things."

"I am Israeli," she countered.

Tony was just about to tell her something, probably some comment about how being Mossad would mean that she was trained to prefer guns and knives to purses and clothes or perfume and makeup, when her phone rang.

"David."

"Ziva, it's McGee. We got a lead on our murder, and are bringing him in now. Not much else has happened, but Gibbs seriously thinks that this guy did it. By the way, have you seen Tony? If he answers your calls, can you tell him to get in here now? I think Gibbs is ready to head slap him into next centenary."

"Sure, McGee, I will try to contact him for you. Thank you."

"Thanks, Ziva. I'll call you with another update after the interrogation. Talk to you soon."

"Bye," she said as she snapped the phone shut.

"What did the Elf Lord have to say?"

"They cut the case."

"Cracked the case," he corrected.

"What?"

"You said 'They cut the case.' The saying is 'They cracked the case.'"

"How do you crack a case?"

"How do you cut a case?"

"You take a knife and slice it, or you can take scissors and cut it. You cannot crack the case."

"That's true," he stopped speaking taking a moment to sort his thoughts; then he continued, "Nonetheless, the saying is still 'Crack the case' not 'Cut the case.'

So, who are you supposed to contact?"

"You. Apparently, Gibbs is reading to murder you. Is your phone off? Because McGee said that he has tried to get in contact with you, but I have not heard it ring once."

"Well, you know . . ."

"It is not even on! So, then this is what you are doing whenever I tried to call you, and you never pick up," she accused.

"Ziva, it is not that bad."

"Rule 3, yes? Never be unreachable! I thought you had the plague! The plague, Tony! And the entire time you were taking your girlfriend on shopping trips!"

He did not answer.

"I need to shoot something," she muttered under her breath.

"Look, Zi, I am sorry all right. Listen; there are parts of this that you cannot understand, okay. I wish I could tell you everything, but right now I can't. Besides, Jeanne is coming back, so I have a feeling that unless you want to be talking with her for the rest of the day, I would trust me and give me a chance to make it up to you."

She cursed in Hebrew before saying, "Fine."

When the doctor came back, Ziva allowed Tony to move in between them as they continued walking. He no longer put his arm around her shoulders, but they occasionally brushed arms in an unconscious act. He slipped his hand out of Jeanne's and threw the arm around her shoulders instead. They rest of the walk the both walked quietly, listening to the continuous rambling of Jeanne.

When they reached the ice cream store, the three of them went in. Jeanne ordered yoghurt flavored ice cream, and Ziva ordered chocolate. They went back outside to the park that surrounded the area. The strolled peacefully. Tony and Jeanne shared the yoghurt flavored while Ziva was happily allowed to eat all of hers. When Jeanne received a call from the hospital regarding one of her patients, she asked them to give her a moment. When she was out of ear shot, Tony turned to Ziva with desperate eyes.

"What?" She asked him totally lost at his sudden change in behavior.

"Can I have a bite?"

"Why? You are sharing one with your girlfriend."

"I hate that stuff. That is NOT the good yoghurt flavor! I just need to get the taste out of his mouth. Just one bite, so that don't throw up when I eat another bite."

"Why do you not just tell her that you do not like it?"

"First of all, contractions, Ziva. Why _don't_ you, not, why do you not or whatever you said. Second, it would be like the time that I told her I didn't like her cooking and then she kicked me out, and I spent to two hours of my life trying to get back into my own apartment and then I had to spend the next week telling her that I was sorry. I never even used those exact words, even though cooking is not her gift, and I just asked if we could order a pizza instead. All I am asking for is one bite . . . Please."

Ziva knew what would happen in one of her books or in one of Tony's movies. The girl would probably kiss him instead, and then they would both find out that they had been in secretly in love with each other forever, but always thought that the other never loved them, and then they would both get their happy ending. But this was not a book or a movie. This was real life, and the man standing front of her was in love with the woman standing twenty feet away and not with the one three feet in front of him.

"A small bite."

"Oh thank God. Ziva, I love you so so so much right now. You have no idea how much I love you."

Her heart warmed, and she handed him the ice cream cone. He took a bite before giving it back to her. He smiled down at her. She took the ice cream cone back sweetly, and proceeded to take her own bite as they waited for Jeanne.

"Tony?" A voice from behind them called in an astonished tone.

They pair turned around to see a good looking man around the same age as the man in question. He was tall and had dark, almost black, eyes that matched the color of his short, nicely cut hair. He was clean shaven and muscular. He was wearing a lose fitting grey t-shirt and a pair of light blue jeans.

"Matt? How have you been? I haven't seen you since college."

"Ah, you know, here and there. I went back to Italy to visit my dad's family and then I hit Kensington to see my mom's. So, what have you been up to?"

"Not much. Work, mainly," he replied, "Oh, Matt, this is Ziva David and Ziva this is Matthew Russo, my best friend form college."

The man stuck out a hand and flashed a flirtatious smile in her direction. Ziva shook his hand firmly, and returned the enticing smile. She let her left eyebrow raise just the slightest bit, while Matt eyed her appreciatively as Tony asked him about some sports game. Tony finished his sentence rather quickly when he noticed the subtle exchange. A feeling soared through him and then fell down, and for a split second he literally saw red. He took a subconscious step towards Ziva and threw his arms over her shoulders as though he was claiming her. Suddenly, his friend's demeanor changed. He backed off of the Israeli completely, and although he was highly confused because he could have sworn that she returned his interest, he flashed Tony an apologetic look, which the taller of the two seemed to accept.

Jeanne had seen the whole thing . . . Well, most of it. She had heard her boyfriend exclaim Matt, so she had turned around to see who he was talking to. She began to walk closer to them. The arms dealer's daughter heard him introduce Ziva and explain to her that he and this new man had been friends for quite some time. Then she watched with glee as the dark haired man and Ziva silently flirted, but her delight turned to dejection and rage as _her boyfriend_ tossed his arms around her rival in a claiming manner. Her feelings of approval turned immediately to resentment when the man, who seemed to be just the person she needed to save her relationship, backed off completely. She stormed over, but just as she was about to explode and cause the biggest scene ever, she stopped. An evil grin slowly formed on her face.

_So, Tony is the jealous type, I need to get rid of Ziva, and then there is this random, yet significant fellow, Matthew, who seems to make her forget all about little Tony. I just get them together; she crushes a part of his heart, and guess who is there to pick up the pieces: ME! Oh, yes this is going to be SO much fun! _She thought wickedly.

She changed her evil sneer to a sweet and loving smile as she wrapped her arms tightly around Tony's middle. She laughed inwardly as she watched him practically jump out of his skin, let go of his partner and her enemy shoot three steps away from her property.

"Hi," she introduced herself, "I am Jeanne Benoit, Tony's girlfriend."

The man's face twisted in confusion at the sudden change in demeanor by everyone, but shook it off and politely shook the hand of the apparent girlfriend of his best friend. He looked up at Tony with a look that clearly meant the Italian had a ton of explain to do. Tony shook his head signaling that he would fill him in on everything later.

"Look, I know it's early, but maybe we could all go out to dinner together, and then get a few drinks?" Tony suggested.

"I think that's a great idea - as long as it is all right with you two?" Matt responded addressing the girls.

Ziva was going to respond, but realized that she didn't have to when Jeanne cut in," Of course, we would love to. I just adore getting to know all of Tony's friends."

"Great. I know Tony and I have A LOT to catch up on," Matt said emphasizing his words.

"We aren't that old! Besides, we still talk."

"Apparently, not enough," Matt said sarcastically under his breath.

Tony glared at him, but could not stay mad at his best friend for long. They started walking. For the girls it was aimless, but both of the boys seemed to subconsciously know exactly where they were going. They talked about random things and brought up old inside jokes or past memories that they both wished to forget. They laughed constantly.

Ziva observed her partner with his friend and could not help, but smile. Matt seemed like an extremely nice guy. She was glad that he and Tony were friends. It was nice to see Tony like this: so playful and yet so mature. She smiled to herself.

Jeanne walked on the other side of Ton. She schemed about how this was all going to work. Well, the chances of getting time alone with Matt was pretty much assured if the two people that she was trying her hardest to rip apart were going to act anything like they had been. Then she could just convince him to go after Ziva. She _would _succeed whether it ruined Tony's friendship with this guy or not. She did not think that she could take it much longer. Besides, after they were together, they could all go back to being friends. It was perfect.

"We're here," Tony said suddenly drawing both women out of their deep thoughts.

He pointed to the small pizza restaurant behind him. It was small and looked like a family run business. They looked through the window and they could see a little old woman making handmade pizzas. It looked wonderful to Ziva. Almost like the little place that here and her friends had discovered one day in Tel Aviv. Although this was obviously an Italian restaurant, she could not forget her own childhood in a similar situation. The bustling city, and then the small, unknown restaurant that probably had the best food in the entire city. She beamed at Tony, who had never seen her look so happy in her entire life. He made a mental note to ask what she was thinking about later before looking at Jeanne.

She smiled up at him too, but did not seem quite as thrilled. He smiled down at her as well, but he felt a little disappointed that she did not see the same beauty in the little place that Ziva saw. He brushed it off though.

Matt seemed impatient to go in, and eventually grabbed his arm and tugged him in. As they crashed through the door with Ziva following hastily behind and Jeanne shortly after her, although less excited, the bell above the door rang. The little woman's head snapped up and she rushed into the room.

"Anthony! Matthew!"

She rushed up to the boys and gave them tight hugs. She had tears in her eyes. She just seemed so happy to see them.

She wiped the tears from her eyes prior to continuing, "I thought you two were never going to come and visit me. With my Maria all grown up and married now and since Enrico went to Iraq, I have had no one to talk to. How have you two been?"

"Good, we actually just ran into each other by chance, but we can't be in D.C at the same time and not eat here," Tony answered for both of them.

The old woman seemed to notice the two women standing behind them for the first time. She begin scolding them in fluent Italian and whacking them on the arms

"Ziva, this is Mrs. Bosco. She is Matt's aunt, and she was kind of like a mom to me after mine died. Matt and I used to come down here from New York every weekend. Sometimes, we would actually ditch school and then take a taxi or bus down here. Eventually, we learned that she wouldn't let us get away with it. Mom," he said turning to the woman who had acted like his mother for the last twenty-three years of his life, "this is Ziva David, my partner and my best friend along with Matt. We work together."

Ziva smiled brightly at the woman who shook her hand.

"David" she questioned pronouncing her last my name perfectly, "Are you Israeli?"

Ziva was shocked that she had made the connection so quickly between her last name and her home country.

"Yes! Most people cannot connect the two that quickly, and they always seem to pronounce my name wrong."

Turning to Tony, his "mother" spoke in rapid Italian again. Tony shook his head fiercely, and responded causing Matt to burst out laughing. He made some snide comment causing the frail woman to smack him in the arm again. He pretended as though she seriously injured him, and Ziva could truly see how a twelve year old Tony could find a family in this small place. Her smile widened if that was even possible.

"Mom, _this _is my girlfriend, Jeanne Benoit."

"French. The French have such delicate food. I went to Paris once, when I was much younger of course, but I remember it fondly. It was a wonderful trip. Well, take a seat. Take a seat. I'll make you one of your favorite pizzas and then we will all talk."

She stood to return to the kitchen, but Ziva stopped her.

"May I help?" She asked in beautiful Italian.

The woman's eyes widen, Tony's face paled, Matthew could barely contain his laughter.

"You speak Italian?" She responded in the same tongue.

"Only what Tony has taught me," she answered with a smile.

"I always knew that boy was good for something. Certainly, my dear, come on," she carried on in the same language and manner.

With that the old Italian and young Israeli bustled into the kitchen.

**A/N: Promo: "What was Tony like as a child?"**

"**Oh, he was the sweetest boy. Everyone will try to tell you differently. They all say that he was such a trouble maker, but I never believe what others say."**

"**Listen man, are you with Ziva?"**

"**What, no, Ziva and I are just friends. Seriously, we just are really close."**

"**Then you wouldn't care if I gave it a shot?"**

"**What?"**

"**You want me to go on a shopping trip alone with your girlfriend?"**

"**Ziva, it won't be that bad?"**

"**Fine, but if I am the only one that comes back do not blame me!"**

"**Are you in love with him?"**

"**Who?"**

"**Tony." **

**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I am so excited! Please Review and I really hope you liked this chapter.**

**Thanks!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry that I haven't updated in like ever. I blame my teachers. Apparently they believe that if students have free time then they aren't doing their jobs right. I hope that a 23 paged chapter makes up for it. Yes, in Word this is 23 pages long. Pease review and I hope you like it.**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine. Wish it was.**

Ziva followed the smiling lady into the kitchen. When she walked in, she gasped. It was like nothing that she had ever seen before. It was literally just like taking a step back in time. There was three big, round stone ovens protruding from the wall on right, several wooden cooking tools ranging from rollers to spoons to cookie cutters on the front wall, and behind her sat a large cauldron with a huge, black spaghetti pot filled to the brim with boiling water as the fire roasted underneath it. On the left there were several bowls and even a place to make the spaghetti noodles on the right of the wooden door. The only place in the entire room that used any electricity was the light bulb hanging from the roof.

"This is incredible! And you make everything by yourself?"

"Well, sometimes my grandkids or my daughter will help me. The boys used to do the same, but they have gotten so caught up in life that they have little time to visit me," she said sadly, " I understand that you and Anthony have quite the crazy schedule."

"Yes, it is rather hectic, but all of the crazy hours are worth it when we get to put another criminal behind bars and give another family justice."

"Oh, of course! I always tried to teach those crazy boys right from wrong, but they just always seemed to be getting themselves back into trouble. Like today: I do not know how many times I have told them to be polite and introduce their guests, but they always seem to do the exact opposite of what I tell them."

Ziva laughed, "Yes, the Tony I know is incredibly stubborn. He does almost anything he wants and does not care what others think of him as long as he is happy. It is one of the things I admire about him."

"If you think he is stubborn now, you should have seen him as a child."

The old woman bustled around grabbing ingredients from the different shelves before opening the only other door in the room revile a kitchen. She grabbed a few more things from the shelves before reappearing into the room.

"It was amazing how resilient he could be. I have yet to meet a single person who can change his mind; however, there is this one girl that he talks about constantly, no one has ever met her, but he seems to be a different person when he talks about her. Perhaps, it is his new girlfriend?"

"Possibly, he has been acting different lately."

"Yes," she mused as she started mixing the dough with Ziva mimicking her earlier actions of mixing, "I wish to meet her someday, but he is very secretive about her. He never mentions her name. In fact, I don't believe I have ever met any your co-workers. She is the only I don't know the name of though."

"Really?"

"Yes, I am shocked that he brought you here. I am glad though too."

Ziva smiled at the woman as they both rolled out the dough. They worked in silence for a little while. Ziva watched the woman's skilled hands as she carefully tried to copy the movements. Every once in a while Tony's surrogate mother would lean over and gently correct her. Ziva would then try again and wait for the sign of approval from the expert.

After a few moments, Ziva's curiosity got the better of her and she asked, "What was Tony like as a child?"

"Oh, he was the sweetest boy. Everyone will try to tell you differently. They all say that he was such a trouble maker, but I never believe what others say. He did get into trouble, but he always had good intentions at heart. When he was younger, it was mostly about pranks. Him and my nephew, Matt, used to pull some of the craziest stunts. You had to watch your back every where you went. Especially, if the two of them were bored. When Tony got older, he got in so many fights. He got suspended at least eight times his junior year. It might have been ten. I cannot remember, but he fought a lot. All the time. He would come home with bloody noses and black eyes. He never was beat though . . . well, except for that one time the kid strung him up the flag pole."

"Wait, someone strung Tony up a flag pole?"

"Mhm, I can't remember what grade he was in, but that was the only time anyone ever beat him in a fight. Of course, most fights weren't his fault. He just never liked it when kids would mess with weaker or younger kids. He thought it was awful. He would just try and help the kid and then we would be getting calls about yet another fight. It used to anger his father so badly. He always told him that he would have to give up the fighting. Oh, and when he got expelled for it, Anthony, Tony's father that is, was so upset with him that Tony ran away. He showed up here a day later. I remember that day like it was yesterday. His father decided that it would be best for Tony to spend about a week down here with my family while he got another school arranged. I was never upset with him. He was doing the right thing. He was always protecting someone, and he never threw the first punch. I just always figured that he could be doing much worse things with his life."

"So, Tony was always protective?"

"Very, particularly with those he considers family. I remember one time some boy picked on Maria, and I guess she called Tony, who she considers to be a brother, to tell him about it. The very next day he skipped school and came down here where he told the kid off and once again got into a fight."

"You have two children, yes?"

"Maria and Enrico," she responded.

"Which is older?"

"Maria. Enrico is two years younger."

"If you don't mind me asking how do you know the DiNozzos?"

"Oh, our families emigrated here from Italy together. On the way to Ellis Island, they formed a strong bond and started a business together, my restaurant. Ever since then our families have been friends."

"That is really cool. Um, something caught my attention earlier. Matt said that his mother was English, so was Tony's; our boss has told us not to believe in coincidences so is there a specific reason for that?"

"Matt and Tony are actually cousins. They act more like brothers, and for some strange reason, they won't tell anybody that they are related, which, now that I think about it, probably has something to do with the fact that their mothers stopped talking a few years after they were born, but their mothers were sisters. Something happened between the two of them, the boys don't know and their fathers won't tell me, but they refused to acknowledge that they were related until Tony's mother died and her sister showed up for the funeral. After that she never talked about her sister again and no one ever mentioned it. That was when the boys found out that they were related, but anytime that they said they were cousins it would get them into trouble, so I think that they just reverted back to introducing each other as friends. They are very close, just like their fathers; they went to the same schools all the way up. They even accepted Ohio State because it was the only school that they could go to together. Anytime either one changed schools the other followed."

"Oh, that's really sad," Ziva commented as she helped the woman place the pizzas in the stone oven.

"Mrs. Bosco, why won't Tony ever talk about his emotions?"

"First of all, do call me Ida, Mrs. Bosco makes me feel so old and like my mother, and I do not know the answer to your question. That's something that you'll have to ask him."

"It is just so infuriating sometimes. I just want to help and he locks me out."

"Is there something wrong with Tony?"

"No, he has just been secretive lately. I mean, he has not been too secretive since I accidently met Jeanne, but before that he would not tell me anything. ANYTHING! I am the same way, but it is frustrating when you are on the other end."

"I know how that feels. Just give him time. You must wait for the best things in life."

"But I am tired of waiting," she complained, "I have never possessed patience, and I – I feel cornered – powerless- when I am not in control or when I do not have all of the answers. It frightens me."

"All in good time. Soon every question will be answered, and every doubt put to rest. All you must do is have hope and wait just a little while longer. I can feel it."

"What do you mean?"

"Ah, a magician never reveals his secrets."

"What does a magician have to do with this?" Ziva asked genuinely confused.

After that the knowing look in her eyes disappeared as shock took its place.

She carefully replied as though testing every word, "It's an expression."

"Another American idiom that makes no sense," she muttered.

"It's you?"

"What am I?"

Her confusion became worse with every word uttered.

"The girl. Matt calls her 'Idiom Girl' because that was the only unique trait Tony would tell us."

"I am not leading."

"Following," she corrected, "It _is_ you. It has to be."

Ziva shook her head as she tried to figure out what was going on. She opened her mouth to refute what the woman was saying, but Ida had already turned around and was pulling the two pizzas out of the oven.

"If you could just hand me those two plates, dear, we can eat," she commented as she motioned to two large, round, wooden platters on the shelf.

The previous conversation seemingly forgotten, Ziva just turned around and did as she was asked. She helped the mysterious Italian carefully place each pizza onto the plate. She then grabbed her own and followed her out of the room, turning off the single light bulb before closing the door.

"Finally, what took you two so long?"

"Making homemade pizzas is not easy, Tony. Ms. David was quite capable too. I remember teaching you how to make it. It must have taken the whole summer before you finally got it right."

"Okay, okay, I get. No need to bring that up."

"Trust me; it was much worse for me then for you. Practically, burned down the entire restaurant."

"MOM!"

"It's true. The fire alarms went off and everything. The fire department came. If I remember correctly they carried –"

"OKAY! OKAY! WE GET IT! NO NEED TO GO IN TO THE DETAILS!" He cut her off in a rush.

"C'mon, Tony, let her finish it sounds funny" Jeanne pleaded.

"Yeah, Fire Boy, this is one of my favorites," Matt joked.

"Matthew, you don't have a leg to stand on," Ida reminded the man.

"But he has two legs that are perfectly fine?"

"It's an expression, Zi, like 'Don't jump the gun.'"

"Why would anyone jump over a gun? It is pointless."

"Well, yeah, but that is just the way that the expression goes."

"I will never understand this language" Ziva grumbled.

"Wait, you're Idiom Girl?" Matt exclaimed "I thought that it was her."

He pointed to Jeanne, but the glare that Tony sent him quickly shut him.

"I do not understand why people keep calling me this, but I would like to hear the end of the story," Ziva commented.

"How about not?"

"Please, Tony, whatever you did cannot be that bad."

Her eyes pleaded for him to say yes, and eventually, after he squirmed around a little bit and let out a sigh of defeat, he gave her a final look that only she could read, but the smile that spread across her face made the definition obvious.

"So, what happened?" She urged the female to continue excitedly.

Ida was looking at her "son" with questioning and astonished eyes. She had never seen him give in to something that he was against so decisively so easily. No one else had ever convinced him to let someone continue that story, and now, the fact that he was with someone else seemed more and more unbelievable. She had already thought that they were dating when they first came in, but when he had told her no, which explained why he was so panicked when he learnt that the Israeli could speak Italian almost proficiently, she assumed that she had judged too quickly. She had even gone far enough to believe that she was losing her talent for reading people . . . until now.

"The –the," she stumbled as she tried to regain her composure, "The men had to come in and carry out a crying Tony from the broom closet in the store across the street. I had already put the fire out, but he had locked the door and refused to leave until he was sure. They had to pick the lock and drag him out of the store."

Ziva was laughing hysterically. Matt snickered, and even Jeanne was trying miserably not to laugh.

"I was eight!"

He pouted, and Ziva smiled at him slightly as her apology for making fun of him, which seemed to make him feel a little better.

"Besides, that guy looked like a giant."

This only Ziva could hear, and made her giggle a little bit. It made his smile brighten a bit that he made her laugh. She smiled back at him. He beamed until his gaze fell on his mother. Her eyes were skeptical, and she had one eyebrow raised. It was the same look he received every time that she thought he was lying as a child. He gave her a sheepish smile and then dug into the pizza. The rest of the inhabitants followed his example.

"Oh my god," Jeanne commented after she swallowed, "this is the best pizza I have ever had."

"Ziva made that one," Ida boasted as one would about their own child.

"Seriously, Zi? This is awesome!"

A slight blush crept onto her cheeks, but she quickly forced herself to regain perfect composure. Matt flashed a smile of his approval which she returned with a grateful one.

Within a very short amount all of the pizza was gone, and laughter filled the room.

"Oh, do you remember that one thing that we used to do with our skateboards and the cars? What did we call that?" Matt asked.

"Yeah, um, what did we call that? Something to do with mythology because we had just watched all those movies about eh Greek gods in class, I think it might have been River Styx?"

"YES! It was the best thing ever! We used to take our skateboards up to this huge hill, sometimes we would use our bikes, and then we would sit on them and ride down the hill while all the cars came at us. You would have to steer so that you didn't get hit."

"Oh, and then the time that we would run through the streets trying not to get hit by cars," Tony reminded him.

"Yeah, why did we ever stop doing that again?"

"Sam got hit. Nothing major, but freaked his mom out."

"Oh, yeah."

"How did you two survive?" Jeanne questioned.

"Or at least be relatively normal by the time you became adults?" Ziva added.

"Don't know, but we did."

They talked for a little while longer before they noticed the time and decided that they should leave. They bid Ida Bosco goodbye with the promise of visiting her before Matt left. She pulled Ziva aside as the others walked out of the door and made her promise to hold the boys to the promise, and to visit her sometime soon.

The four walked out of the restaurant and headed to their local by Tony's and Ziva's apartments. They walked for what felt like ages before they finally reached the small bar. Matt and Jeanne walked into the bar; Tony was just about to enter as well, when an iron like grip on his arm held him back.

"Do you think this is a good idea to bring them here?"

"What do you mean, Ziva?"

"Tony, she doesn't even know your real name, and the fact that she has yet to find out may just be luck. The team comes here all the time, and although I may not exactly get along with Jeanne, if they meet her then this whole thing is going to blow up in your face, Tony," she said worriedly.

"First of all, I got it covered, the team is working on an extremely difficult case, meaning that tonight they won't have time to come here, and secondly, why do you care?"

"I am your partner: It is practically my job to care," she answered as she turned to walk away.

He reached out to grab her arm, so that he could spin her around to face him.

"About my safety: yes. About my love life: no."

"It does not matter," Ziva said yanking her from his grip.

"Matters to me, and it clearly is something that matters to you."

"I just do! Tony, I –I care about you. You are my best friend, probably the closest friend I have ever had. I want you to be happy. Clearly, Jeanne makes you happy. And I think it is better than you chasing after a different girl every night. So, yes, I care, Tony. I, Ziva David, care! Is that so hard to believe?"

"No, I just had to know why. You're my best friend too, Zi."

They held each other's gaze until Matt opened up the door, interrupting the moment, and asked, "Hey, are you two coming in?"

"Uh, yeah, right behind you," Tony answered for both of them.

Ziva followed both men in with her head lowered like a child caught doing something that they weren't supposed to. They slid into the booth were Jeanne was waiting. Her features changed to an uneasy look when she saw Ziva's face. Hoping that nothing had happened, but willing to trust Tony, she let it go, she smiled brightly at them and waved them over. She beamed up at him as he slid in next to her and Ziva slid in next to Matt. After a few minutes, the pair of investigators moods seem to brighten and the night went on with ease.

Eventually, Tony offered to go get more drinks, and after getting everyone's orders he slipped out. Matt, claiming that he was going to help, followed. He caught up with Tony just as he finished ordering the drinks.

"Hey, Tony, can I talk to you?" He asked seriously.

"Sure, what's up?"

"It's about Ziva," he stated uneasily.

"What about her?" Tony asked rapping his knuckles on the counter to the beat of the song.

"Listen man, are you with Ziva?"

"What, no, Ziva and I are just friends. Seriously, we just are really close."

"Then you wouldn't care if I gave it a shot?"

"What?"

"I was wondering if it would be okay with you to ask Ziva out because I think I might really like her, and I think that she just might like me back, but your family, and I didn't want something to get in between us because you have always been there for me, and this is starting to sound like something to girls would talk about when one wanted to date the other's ex. Anyways, I was just wondering if it would be cool with you because I can't really tell if you and Ziva are together or have been or what, so I just wanted to check with you."

Tony stared at him dumbstruck at first. A thousand thoughts were running through his head at a thousand miles per second. He technically had no right to say that Matt couldn't ask Ziva out, but at the same time he was _NOT _okay with it. There was always the chance that Ziva would say no, and if she did like him, and Tony said no then it could ruin their friendship. If he said no to Matt, than that could mess up them too, but he did not want to say yes. _But Ziva was right about wanting me to happy. Wouldn't seeing her be happy be better than seeing her sad? Well, yeah, but is she sad? She seems fine. But wouldn't stopping her from being happier bad? Oh my God, I need to choose right now. Anthony DiNozzo Jr., _he thought using his full name like his father would when he was in trouble, _you are with Jeanne. You are happy with Jeanne. Matt could be happy with Ziva. Ziva could be happy with Matt. But, I don't know if I could ever look at them the same afterwards. True, but you can't be selfish about this._

"Go ahead," he forced out sounding as supportive as possible, "I am totally cool with it."

"Thanks, Tony, seriously. Now, I just hope that she says yes," Matt exclaimed with a huge smile on his face.

The drinks appeared in front of them, and Matt grabbed his and Ziva's leaving Tony to grab the last two as soon as his cousin's back was turned to him he let his face contort into a look of pain that he was feeling not physically, but from the mayhem that he was feeling inside. He forced a smile to his face before he turned around and walked back to the table.

The rest of the time was spent happily for everyone, but Tony and Ziva. Ziva kept trying to get him to look at her, so that she could see what was wrong with him because everything that came out of his mouth and every smile seemed forced, so unlike his earlier self. She knew that is she could just see his full face then it would be obvious, but he would not look at her. Tony, on the other hand, was avoiding both Ziva and Matt as much as possible. Mostly Ziva though. He felt that if he looked at her, then he would lose all his will to let his two best friends try to be happy together. They weren't even together and already he felt this much pain.

_What have I done to deserve this?_ He thought quietly to himself.

Thankful when the night was done the group called three separate taxis. One to take Matt to his cousin's, Maria, house, the second was to take Ziva to her apartment, and the last was to take Tony and Jeanne to theirs. Ziva was about to climb into her taxi when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see a chipper Jeanne.

"Hey, Ziva, I was wondering if want to hang out tomorrow. My shift ends early, around eleven, and so I figured that maybe you and I could do something together."

"Uh, I'll check my plans for tomorrow, and get back to you."

"'K, so here is my number," she said handing her a slip of paper, "and of course you already know Tony's. Bye."

Ziva climbed into hr cab, fiddling with the slip of paper in her hand with a number scribbled across it. She really did not want to go, but at the same time she felt obligated to do so. She groaned and let her head fall onto the back of the seat as the cab took her home.

_In Tony and Jeanne's cab:_

"That was fun tonight."

"Yeah, Matt asked me permission to ask out Ziva," he told her.

"Really?" Jeanne asked excitedly.

"Yeah," he responded.

"That's great. They would make a super cute couple," she gushed.

_ Wow,_ she thought, _my luck must be better than I thought. I didn't even have to do anything._

"Why don't you seem that happy for them?" She asked worried and confused.

"The whole thing kind of grosses me out. It's like my little sister dating my twin brother, which is not a pleasant image," he lied.

"Yeah, I could see that," she agreed as she waited for the car to take them home.

_Later that night:_

Ziva stared at the number. She had not been able to sleep. Perhaps, she should go. It might be a good thing, but after today . . .

_Jeanne did seem nicer once Matt showed up. Perhaps, it is just because she is uneasy when tony is there. Maybe, everything will be fine tomorrow. _

Ziva argued back and forth with herself on what she wanted to do. She paced the room. Back and Forth. Back and Forth. She wasn't getting anywhere with her decision. She wanted to get along with Jeanne because if for Tony this really was _The One _then she wanted to be happy for him, she wanted to like Jeanne, and she wanted to know about her. She groaned and allowed herself to collapse onto the couch. This was not enjoyable.

She had closed her eyes as she tried to get some sleep again for she would sleep tonight even if it was on her couch. Suddenly, her phone rang. She let out a groan, but answered anyways.

"David."

"Ziva, it's Tony. I would really appreciate it if you went on that trip with Jeanne tomorrow. There is something that I need to do, but she can't be there."

"Really, Tony? Has it ever occurred to you that I might already have plans tomorrow?" She asked as she returned to her previous activity of pacing the room.

There was a pause before he answered in a somewhat hesitant voice, "Do you?"

"Well, no," she answered truthfully, "Nothing in particular, but perhaps I would like to go back to work?"

"Gibbs gave you the day off, and I would really, REALLY appreciate it."

"You want me to go on a shopping trip – alone – with your girlfriend?"

"Ziva, it won't be that bad?" He more asked than stated as he pleaded with her.

"Fine, but if I am the only one that comes back do not blame me!" She finally relented and agreed.

"Great, I'll tell Jeanne. You are the greatest Ziva."

"Sure, whatever you say," she said dismissively, "What time do I need to be ready?"

She heard him converse with Jeanne a little bit before responding, "she asked if it would be fine with you if you met her at the park by where we saw Matt at around 11:00."

"Yes, that time will be just fine. Tell her that I shall see her tomorrow."

"Thanks, Zi. You really are the best."

"All right, good night, Tony," she said with a slight laugh.

"Night, Zi."

She ended the call right before flopping onto her couch with a groan. She let her empty hand cover her face.

"What the heck did I just condemn myself too?" She asked to no one in general.

She sighed, dreading the morrow, but feeling much less guilty than she had only moments before as she sulked back into her dark room. She allowed herself to climb under the covers and drift into the silent abyss that was known to her as sleep

_Ida Bosco's restaurant:_

It was very early in the morning. Much too early for any of her usual customers – or any customers for that matter – to be in, so the ring of the bell that rested just above her door came as a surprised to her. She looked up and beat the flour off of her hands and onto her already flour-coated apron. She bustled out of the small kitchen and into the main area. She received quite a shock.

"Anthony, what are you doing here at this hour?"

Tony, who had just stormed into the small restaurant, let his face soften a little bit at the confusing question.

"I-I don't know. I just – The apartment was suffocating me. I needed some air, and then I needed advice, and this was the first place that came to my mind," he admitted as he tried to sort out his thoughts.

"Well, then, take a seat. I shall go get you something to drink, and then we'll see if we can sort out this problem hat you seem to be having."

He shook his head slowly as he stared through the table rather than looking at it. He did not even notice the time pass by from when he had been left and when his "mother" had returned. He was dragged out of his thoughts at the clink of the glass against the table. He looked up to see Ida looking at him as she took her own seat across from him.

"So, what are you distraught about?"

"I'm not sure. I keep thinking about what happened today, but I can't think of anything that should have made me upset."

"You can't think of anything that _should _have made you mad. Just because things _shouldn't _upset you doesn't mean that they won't. What do you think made you distressed that shouldn't have?"

"I was fine up until the bar."

He was going to say more, but the woman cut him off, "I told you bars never bring anything, but trouble."

"You met Uncle Frank at a bar," Tony protested.

"That was a different time," she insisted, "Now, what happened at the bar?"

"Well, it was fine until Matt came with me to get more drinks. We started talking and then he asked me something that made me," he paused, choosing his words carefully, "less than happy."

"What did he ask, and in what way does 'less than happy' mean? I cannot help you if you give me nothing to work with."

Tony squirmed uneasily much like had done the day prior and like had always done as a child when he did not want to discuss something.

"He asked if he could date Ziva," he replied quietly.

No further explanation came, but it was not required. Ida Bosco could read her son quite well.

"And you said yes. That made you jealous; however, you don't think you should be jealous because you have Jeanne, who you love."

The man across from her nodded mutely.

"Have you ever considered the fact that it is possible that you love Jeanne, but are _in love _with Ziva?"

"Is that possible?"

"Well, sure. You loved and probably still do love, your previous partner, Kate, but you were not in love with her. You said so yourself."

He did not say anything. He just continued to stare through the table; the drink in front of him remained untouched.

After a few moments, she eventually asked, "Am I right?"

"I love Ziva," he said at last, "but how can I tell if I am in love with Ziva? How did you know that you were in love with Uncle Frank?"

"Love is tricky. You don't really know. It is not just an idea that can pop of thin air. If you hate someone today, you probably won't love them tomorrow. It is just something that grows. It's slow at first, but then everything just seems to make you love the person more, and after you realize that you love them, the entire process just speeds along. Sometimes there is a catalyst. For example, if the person you love almost dies or is hurt, whether physically or emotionally, perhaps, like in your case they may even be on the verge of being taken away, you may realize that you love them sooner. And it may just seem like something that has popped out of the blue – something that seems impossible- but the love was always there. It always will be. After you realize that you love a person the idea becomes more probable that you could really be in love with them."

"But how do you know? How can I be sure Ziva is the one? Because if I do this, and then I realize that I was wrong, I am not only going to hurt Ziva, which is more than I think I can handle, but I would destroy our partnership, and more importantly, our friendship."

"You just answered your own question. You said that you couldn't bear to hurt Ziva. That's what love is. It's finding the one person that it pains you to see hurt, finding the one person where you feel their emotions a thousand times stronger: If they are happy then you are ecstatic, if they are sad then you are miserable, if they are hurting then you are in agony. That's love. It's painful, but special. You have that special thing with Ziva. At dinner, you felt humiliated at the story, but Ziva was happy, so you became happy. You are a person who believes what you believe and thinks what you think. It is very hard to change that, but even though you believed yourself to be completely resolute in no one hearing that story, when Ziva wished me to finish it, you let her hear it. In fact, I would not be surprised if you said no and then told her it later anyways. She's special, Tony, very special."

He let out a sigh as the full meaning of what he had just realized hit him. His gaze at whatever his mind was formulating never broke, but he could almost feel the smile that had crept onto his mother's face.

"But, you knew that you loved her this entire time, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I knew, but I couldn't risk it, and you are the only person who has ever been truly successful with anything involving relationships that I know. Thanks, Mom, I love you."

"Love you too, but now you need to do what's right, Anthony. Don't think about it. Let your heart think for you."

And with that he left the small restaurant as the sun began to peak over the buildings now even more resolute in completing what he had known he had had to do before the minute he left his apartment.

_11:00 at the park:_

Ziva arrived at the park. She had spent most of the morning convincing herself not to call Jeanne and say that she was sick because after she had called Gibbs and told him that she was taking the day off, she knew that there was no turning back. She did not see Jeanne, and had almost considered just leaving, when she heard from behind her:

"Ziva, hey, how are you?"

She cringed and mentally cursed Tony in Hebrew for making her agree to this. She turned around with a large smile plastered onto her face. She answered politely that she was fine. They stood in awkward silence for a few seconds.

"Look, Ziva, I am really sorry if I ever acted messed up towards you. I never meant to be a jerk, but I guess I just felt a little bit intimidated by you because you seem to know Tony so well, and he really likes you, and you are just so gorgeous. I just wanted to say that I am sorry, and I really do want to try and be your friend, or even just at least have you know that I usually am not like that. I'm sorry, Ziva."

"Do not be. It is all right. Tony and I," she stated, enjoying the way that the beginning of her sentence sounded, "are just really close. We have been through a lot together, but I can guarantee you that our relationship was not this good when it started. It was not necessarily bad, but, uh, it definitely was not like this. We were very professional, and I was not exactly liked by everyone he liked."

"Why? You seem so nice."

"Uh, it is a long story that would probably be better saved for some other time."

"Oh, um, then we don't have to talk about it."

"Thanks."

They started off in no particular direction. They simply walked and talked. To her surprise, Ziva found herself enjoying the conversations. Jeanne was actually quite worldly. Jeanne told Ziva about how her father and her had moved all over the world for his job. Each talked about the different places that they had been to. Occasionally, they even laughed. The most hilarious topic for both of them, which Ziva figured Tony had not calculated into his plans when he asked her to do this, was sharing stories of Tony.

The two wandered for a few hours before they both became of aware of the growing hunger in their stomachs. They made their way to the nearest café and sat down at one of the outside tables, seeing as it was a beautiful day. They ordered their food, and then Jeanne continued to listen to Ziva's story about a prank that Tony had pulled on one of their colleagues.

She noticed how Ziva's eyes seemed to sparkle with happiness and, what caused Jeanne to feel a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, love. She seemed just blissfully happy with it, and it was as though the Israeli did not even notice it. Jeanne remembered the night before they had gone to dinner with Ziva; how Tony had said over and over again that she would love Ziva. Then she remembered the look on his face when he talked about her, and she realized why she had felt so threatened by the woman. He too had shown love, and not a brother and sister relationship. It seemed like more than that – more than even just very close friends – it seemed like more than what felt for her.

"Ziva," she interrupted suddenly, watching as Ziva's smile disappeared when she saw the somber look on Jeanne's face.

Jeanne waited for the look of recognition before continuing, "Are you in love with him?"

"Who?"

"Tony."

Ziva's face fell slightly more as she was caught off guard by the question. She grasped for something to say as she tried to shake off the shock that had taken her over.

"Of course, I love him. Tony is not capable of being not loved. Everyone loves Tony."

"That wasn't my question. Are you in love with Tony? Not do you love him or do you care him, I already know that you do. That much is obvious to me. What I want – What I need," she amended, "to know is, are you in love with him?"

Ziva could not answer. She could lie and say no, but that seemed the only lie that anyone and everyone could see through. She could be truthful and say yes, but then she risked not only ruining the finally decent relationship she had with Jeanne, but Tony and Jeanne's relationship and her own relationship with Tony. This was way too much to consider at one moment, and this was not how she wanted anyone to find out, or, since she already had the feeling that most people knew, hear her confirm it.

"I just need a yes or no. If it's yes I won't be upset or angry. Besides, I think I already know what you are going to say. All I ask is that you are honest with me because I really need to know."

"Yes," she forced out, "I am _in love _with him, but I can move on because he is in love you. I really like my friendship with him, and I would like to become friends with you, so you don't have to ever worry about it coming up every again. You seem like you would be good for him, so I am fine with the fact that he is in love with you."

"That's the thing, I don't think he is."

"Of course he is. Before you Tony chased after every woman that he crossed paths with, and now, he won't even so much as glance at anyone else."

"Except you," Jeanne protested, "I think he might care about me or might even love me as a close friend, but after I saw the way he would look at you and how he talked about you - I just don't think he could love me as much as that, and if you love him too then I think you both deserve to be as happy as possible."

"What do you mean?"

"I think that everyone would be happier if I left, and I might hurt now, but I want somebody who will love me like he loves you."

"I just, I wanted to know if you loved him like he loves you and now, I do, and so, I can stop over-stepping my welcome."

"This is not what I thought was going to happen. Tony loves you; he will be devastated."

"No he won't. He might be confused, but in the end, he'll be happier with you than he could ever be with me. I would like to remain friends though, you and me and possibly even Tony."

Jeanne's pager went off at that moment, and she sighed as she checked it.

"One of my patients needs something. I have to go, so I guess I'll see you around," Jeanne said as she got up to leave.

Ziva stared dumb-founded at the empty seat in front of her. _That was not supposed to happen_ was the only thought that she could seem to formulate other than _Tony is going to kill me_. She snapped out of it, grabbed herself, and dialed his number, willing him to pick up.

_NCIS:_

Tony stalked into the building determined with what he was about to do. He had found no peace last night, and needed to settle the inner turmoil inside of him. McGee started to talk to him, but Tony blew past him without a word. He ran up the steps as quickly as he could and burst into the Director's office much like Gibbs would have done.

"Special Agent DiNozzo, come in," Jenny said sarcastically.

"We need to talk. I can't keep doing this. I had a hard enough time lying to my team, but now it is seriously starting to affect my personal life. It's causing me to do things that know I already regret much less the effect that they could have in the future. I am giving up everything for this, and I can't and won't do it anymore. Jeanne is a good person, and she is _NOT _her father. Dragging her into this was wrong in the first place. She doesn't deserve to be lied to and manipulated like this. I won't do it to her or myself any longer."

"Agent DiNozzo, who is lying to you?"

"Me, I am lying to myself to try and make what I have to do easier, but I am giving my happiness and future, my personal future, up for something that I think has no way of turning out well. I'm sorry, Jenny, I want to help you, but I can't anymore. It's destroying almost every personal relationship I have. I won't let that happen because you want to use a bad man's good daughter to get to him. You're going to have to find another way. I just thought that you should know."

"Bravo," she said with a small smile, "You accomplished the one thing that I never could. You put your personal life and relationships above your work. I wish I had done the same sometimes. I respect what you want to do, and I know it is against the rules, but I am sorry for putting you through it in the first place. It shouldn't have happened that way. You're right. I'll get him one day, but until then I'll track him down in another. Tony, if Gibbs gives you any trouble about it, just tell him that I am the one he should be upset with. Now, fix what you can while there is still time."

"Thank you. Thank you," he said running out of the room. He dashed down the steps and into the bullpen. McGee tried to approach him again, but he said that he couldn't stay as he pushed the door open to the stairs and ran all the way down them.

_Matthew's cousin, Maria's, house:_

Matt called Ziva. He had been planning out what he was going to say, and he now felt that he had it perfected. He was going to be simple, but cool, but not to cool. He wanted to show that he cared. Finally, she picked up, and the second that he heard her voice every single thing that he had planned on saying slipped out of his head completely.

"Hey, Ziva, it's Matt."

"Matt, have you heard from Tony. I have tried calling him like six times, but he is not picking up, and I really need to talk to him it is really important."

"No, I haven't heard from him since last night. Speaking of last night, I actually had something that I needed to ask you."

"Yes?"

"Would you want to go out with me on a date?"

He heard only silence for a few seconds before her voice came through:

"Matt, I am really sorry, but I cannot. I think you are a great guy and everything, but I am not exactly ready to enter into a relationship."

"Oh, that's okay. Um, we could be friends then?"

"Yes, I would like that very, very much. You really are a great guy though, and I know that there is someone out there for you who will be a much better date than I could ever be."

"Yeah, um, if I hear from Tony I'll tell him that you are looking for him."

"Thank you, and I really am sorry."

"Don't worry about it. I'll talk to you soon."

"All right, bye."

He threw the phone down on his bed and ran his hands over his face. For some reason the rejection didn't sting as bad as he had originally thought, but it didn't feel great either. The phone began ringing again. He just let it ring until he heard his cousin demand him to pick it up. He rolled his eyes, but grabbed the phone nonetheless and answered.

"Hello."

"Matt, I really need to talk to you."

"About Ziva. Yeah, don't worry about that. It's not going to happen anyways. She said no, but, uh, she's looking for; said that she needed to tell you something important, so I think you might want to give her a call or meet her somewhere. I should have known that she would have said no."

"I am so, so, so, so sorry. Everything was so complicated last night, and I don't know why I said yes if I knew I wasn't going to be okay with it, and I am really sorry that Ziva said no. I don't know what to say that could make it better, but …." He trailed off.

"Just fix it. I'm not in love with her like you are. I just thought that she would be someone I might come to love, but I don't think it would have been the best thing anyways. You mean a lot to me; that would have hurt you. I am okay. Just fix it before you mess up anymore."

"Thanks, I need to go now. I have to talk to Jeanne before I do anything else. Bye."

"Call me and tell me what happens. See ya."

He hung up after hearing the dial tone. He almost knew the entire time that something like this would happen. He should've known that 'Idiom Girl' was of limits. He didn't feel the rejection as strongly though. He knew that it would have been wrong to go out with her anyways after talking to Tony.

_Tony's apartment:_

Jeanne packed the last of her things into the final suitcase. She gave one concluding glance at what had been so many happy memories. She gave a soft sigh, but knew that she was probably doing the right thing. She grabbed the handle on her suitcase and picked the other one up and then moved to open the door, when it came swinging open. Tony DiNozzo rushed in with a frantic look on his face. He stopped short when he saw what was happening. The look on his face melted into one of confusion.

"Jeanne, what are you doing?"

"What's best for everyone," she replied vaguely.

"I don't get it. What did I do?"

"Nothing, Tony, you didn't do anything. You were just yourself, and I'm not blind. I can see that you love her and that she loves you. I know, and I am okay with that. I want to find someone that will love me as much as you two love each other, so I am leaving; however, I would like to remain friends."

"Jeanne, before you go there is something that you should know," Tony admitted with a pained look on his face.

Jeanne's already gloomy face fell even more.

"I think it would be best if we sat down before I continue."

She nodded her head slowly and followed him to the couch.

"Okay, what do you need to say?"

"I haven't been completely honest with you. My name is Anthony DiNozzo, not DiNardo, and I am not a film teacher, I am an agent with NCIS. Ziva David is my partner there; not in a school."

"Okay," she said while nodding her head very consistently and very slowly, "and Matt and Mrs. Bosco."

"Know nothing about it. They think that you know me as Tony DiNozzo, an agent. Ziva didn't want to lie to you. She tried to talk me out of it, but I convinced her to help me. Because Ziva is who she is, she will do almost anything for someone that she believes she can trust. For a long time, she didn't know about you either. It was just fate that you two met. It was never supposed to happen."

"Why? Why did you lie to me?"

Tony squirmed a little again, and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand as he tried to figure out the best way to word this.

"Your dad – I was ordered to gain your trust by dating you, so we could pinpoint the whereabouts of your father."

He opened his mouth to say more, but Jeanne cut him off.

"What does my father have to do with this? He doesn't break the law."

"Jeanne, we believe your dad to be an arms dealer, who killed the Director of NCIS's father."

"Even if he, which I am not saying that I fully believe you, what do I have to do with it?" She asked as tears began to flood her eyes and her throat began to close.

"The Director thought that you would be the easiest way to him. I was sent in to try and have you tell me where I could find him, but I grew to care for you, which is not allowed. I knew that I couldn't keep doing this. Not to you, and not to my team, who knew nothing about this. I told the Director that I'll be terminating the mission. I know that you are upset, but I believed you had a right to know rather than me just breaking up with you."

She just nodded her head as she bit the side of her cheek, trying desperately not to cry. She made a few sounds, but never opened her mouth. Eventually, she got up on shaking legs, and walked over to the door. She grabbed her two suitcases before turning around permitting two words to flow from her mouth:

"Goodbye, Tony."

With that, she left the apartment with all of her belongings. As she closed the door for the final time, she could have sworn she heard Tony whisper:

"Goodbye, Jeanne."

Tony stood there for a few seconds. He felt even worse. He had expected screaming and crying and anything but what had just happened. He didn't anticipate that. Never in his wildest dreams did he ever think that she would just walk away acting as though she understood why she had to go through so much pain. The fact that she did made Tony feel even worse about himself than he did as he was telling her.

He almost sat on the couch, and just drank his guilt away, but then he remembered what Matt had said. He remembered that Ziva was looking for him, and that he was looking for her. He jumped off the couch, grabbed his keys, and sprinted through the doors.

_Bus Stop in DC:_

Jeanne sat there at the bus stop crying. She didn't know where else to go at this point. She wasn't ready to see anyone, and she had no home to return to so she just came to the most deserted place she could find: the bench of a bus stop. Her eyes stung with the tears, and she couldn't image how her day could become any worse until it started pouring.

"Are you serious?" She shouted at the sky before bursting into tears.

She hugged her legs and buried her face into her knees. She continued to cry. She was shaking form both her sobs and the cold that was starting to consume her as her clothes stuck to her skin and her hair became soaked. She felt a warm hand rest on her shoulder. Looking up she saw Matt.

"Hey," he said softly.

He sat down next to her, and allowed her to be covered by his umbrella. They sat there in comfortable silence for a short while as Jeanne's sobs turned into little sniffles. She felt comforted by the feeling of someone else being there.

"You're going get sick if you stay out here," Matt commented.

"At this point, that might just be good for me. At least, I wouldn't have to go into work."

"You can't hate your job that much. Being a doctor sounds cool. Almost every kid goes through a phase of being a doctor just like they go through the phase of being a celebrity or a superhero or princess."

"I always wanted to be a doctor. For some reason, I always thought that princesses were lame; being a celebrity was overrated."

"Really? I always wanted to be a superhero. I used to run around with this little cape, telling people not to do certain things because they were against the law. When I got older, I just liked reading about law. I actually went to law school; I passed the Bar Exam. I just never got to the part of being an actual lawyer."

"So, you are a certified lawyer who has never spent a day in his life being a lawyer?"

"Pretty much," he responded, joining her in a slight laugh.

"Why?"

"I don't know. My dad always wanted me to go into the family business, but I hated his job. It was so boring. Then we had a falling out, and I haven't spoken to him since. Now I just wander the world with what money I can make with the jobs that I can find."

"I take it you weren't fond of pizza making?"

"No, but working with the bank is worse."

"I think you should talk to your dad."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he's still your dad. I think you two should just push your professional differences aside and be family. That's personal, and you never when family are going to be gone. I also think that you should become a lawyer."

"You do?"

"Yes. I think you could be a very good one."

"Thank, that means a lot. I asked Ziva out today," he informed her.

"She said no?"

"Yeah," he said quietly.

"So that's the real reason that you are out here. You are doing the same exact thing that I am."

"I was walking because I wanted to clear my head. I am sitting here because I wanted to make you feel better," he said without realizing what he had just admitted.

"You did?"

"Yeah, I take it you and Tony talked."

"Oh yes. Apparently, I didn't know him or my father as well as I thought."

"What happened?"

"He told me that almost everything I knew about him was a lie. Then I found out that my father was an arms dealer. Great night. Really just absolutely spectacular," she choked out sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," Matt stated her as he took her hand.

They looked each other directly in the eye for the first time that night. They stopped talking; the sound of the rain pouring in the background disappeared slowly. They leaned forward and closed the gap that separated them, and they kissed.

_The Lincoln Memorial:_

Ziva let the rain pour down on her as she stared at her phone. She must have called Tony a hundred times, and not once did he pick up or call her back.

_He probably does not want to talk to me_, Ziva thought sadly.

She eventually relented and took shelter underneath the monument. She sat down on the steps. Placing her head in her hands she stared at her phone, wondering how in the world she was going to fix this. Everything she said or did just seemed to make it all worse. She watched the bright lights of cars stream past her on the road. After a few more moments of sitting there, she decided that she should go home. She would try to fix this mess that she had created tomorrow. The ex-assassin stood and walked out form the building that was covering her. She began to walk in the other direction.

"Ziva! ZIVA!" She heard from behind her.

She turned around to see the last person that she had expected running towards her.

"Tony?"

She started jogging in his direction. Her jog turned into a sprint causing the heavy water droplets to drench her form head to toe. She stopped millimeters in front of him.

"Tony, I am so sorry about Jeanne. I never meant for that-"

"Ziva," he cut her off.

"What?"

He kissed her. She was shocked at first, but soon found her eyes closing as she kissed him back.

When they finally stopped, they both allowed three little words to be voiced at the same time:

"I love you."

**A/N: I didn't mean for the Matt/Jeanne thing to happen, but I kind of like it. I might write an epilogue or a sequel (the epilogue is more likely) I am not sure. I like this though, and I hope you did too. Please R&R. I LOVE REVIEWS! Thanks. Now that I think about it an epilogue might just be necessary so that is really probable. PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks.**


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